Editing Somnolence (section)

== Assessment ==
Quantifying sleepiness requires a careful assessment. The diagnosis depends on two factors, namely chronicity and reversibility. Chronicity signifies that the patient, unlike healthy people, experiences persistent sleepiness which does not pass. Reversibility stands for the fact that, even if the individual goes to sleep, the sleepiness may not be completely gone after waking up. The problem with the assessment is that patients may only report the consequences of sleepiness: loss of energy, fatigue, weariness, difficulty remembering or concentrating, etc. It is crucial to aim for objective measures to quantify the sleepiness. A good measurement tool is the ''multiple sleep latency test'' (MSLT). It assesses the sleep onset latency during the course of one day—often from 8:00 to 16:00.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kushida|first1=Clete A.|last2=Sullivan|first2=Shannon S.|date=2008-10-01|title=Multiple Sleep Latency Test and Maintenance of Wakefulness Test|url=https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(08)60320-7/abstract|journal=Chest|language=en|volume=134|issue=4|pages=854–861|doi=10.1378/chest.08-0822|issn=0012-3692|pmid=18842919|url-access=subscription}}</ref> An average sleep onset latency of less than 5 minutes is an indication of pathological sleepiness.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Roehrs |first1=Timothy |title=Daytime Sleepiness and Alertness |date=2017 |work=Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine |pages=39–48.e4 |publisher=Elsevier |doi=10.1016/b978-0-323-24288-2.00004-0 |isbn=9780323242882 |last2=Carskadon |first2=Mary A. |last3=Dement |first3=William C. |last4=Roth |first4=Thomas |author-link4=Thomas Roth (scientist)}}</ref>