Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staffIn addition to asking you a number of questions, your doctor may have you complete a questionnaire to determine your wake-sleep pattern and your level of daytime sleepiness. You may also be asked to keep a sleep diary for a couple of weeks, if you haven't already done so.
Your doctor will do a physical exam to look for signs of other problems that may be causing insomnia. Occasionally, a blood test may be done to check for thyroid problems or other conditions that can cause insomnia.
If you have signs of another sleep disorder, such as sleep apnea or restless legs syndrome, you may need to spend a night at a sleep center. Tests are done to monitor and record a variety of body activities while you sleep, including brain waves, breathing, heartbeat, eye movements and body movements.
- Bonnet MH, et al. Overview of insomnia. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Dec. 15, 2008.
- Insomnia. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/inso/inso_all.html. Accessed Dec. 15, 2008.
- Wilson JF. In the clinic: Insomnia. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2008;ITC1.
- Wolkove N, et al. Sleep and aging: 1. Sleep disorders commonly found in older people. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2007;176:1299.
- Ramakrishnan K., et al. Treatment options for insomnia. American Family Physician. 2007;76:517.
- In brief: Your guide to healthy sleep. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/sleep/healthysleepfs.pdf. Accessed Dec. 15, 2008.
- Cole C, et al. Sleep disruption in older adults. American Journal of Nursing. 2007;107:40.
- Insomnia. National Women's Health Information Center. http://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/Insomnia.cfm. Accessed Dec. 15, 2008.
- Your Guide to Healthy Sleep. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/sleep/healthy_sleep.pdf. Accessed Dec. 15, 2008.
- Bonnet MH, et al. Types of insomnia. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Dec. 15, 2008.
- Bonnet MH, et al. Diagnostic evaluation of insomnia. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Dec. 15, 2008.
- Whitworth JD, et al. Which nondrug alternatives can help with insomnia? The Journal of Family Practice. 2007;56:836.
- Lamberg L. Despite effectiveness, behavioral therapy for chronic insomnia still underused. JAMA: The journal of the American Medical Association. 2008;300:2474.
- Bonnet MH, et al. Patient information: Insomnia treatments. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Dec. 15, 2008.
- Bonnet MH, et al. Treatment of insomnia: Pharmacologic therapy. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Dec. 15, 2008.
- Wolkove N, et al. Sleep and aging: 2. Management of sleep disorders in older people. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2007;176:1449.
- Bonnet MH, et al. Treatment of insomnia: Nonpharmacologic therapy. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Dec. 15, 2008.
