Are your sleep habits healthy? Take this quiz to find out

The CDC has called insufficient sleep a public health epidemic — poor sleep habits can increase your risk for obesity while healthy sleep habits are considered key to brain and heart health, according to the American Heart Association. A recent study found more than seven out of ten Americans don’t get restorative rest. The author of that study, Rebecca Robbins, a sleep researcher at Harvard Medical School, joined TODAY to help Savannah Guthrie — and all of us — learn more about how well we sleep. Take the quiz to get your sleep score.

1. How many hours of sleep do you typically get on weeknights?

• 6-7 hours
• 7-9 hours
• More than 10 hours

Scoring: A response of 7-9 = HEALTHY, everything else NOT HEALTHY.

2. How many hours of sleep do you typically get on weekends? 

• 6-7 hours
• 7-9 hours
• -More than 10 hours

Scoring: A response of 7-9 = HEALTHY, everything else NOT HEALTHY.

3. How often have you had trouble sleeping because you could not get to sleep within 30 minutes? 

• Three or more times per week
• Once or twice per week
• Less than once per week
• Not during the past month 

Scoring: A response of “Not during the past month” or “Less than once per week” = HEALTHY, everything else NOT HEALTHY.

4. How often have you had trouble sleeping because you woke up in the middle of the night or early morning? 

• Three or more times per week
• Once or twice per week
• Less than once per week
• Not during the past month 

Scoring: A response of “Not during the past month” or “Less than once per week” = HEALTHY, everything else NOT HEALTHY.

 5. How often do you wake up and feel refreshed from sleep?

• Three or more times per week
• Once or twice per week
• Less than once per week
• Not during the past month

Scoring: A response of “three or more times per week” or “Once or twice per week” = HEALTHY, everything else NOT HEALTHY.

Now, add up your scores:

• Anyone with 4 or 5 “Healthy” scores = Healthy overall sleeper
• Anyone with only 1, 2, or 3 “Healthy” scores = Caution! It might be time to focus on your sleep

7 strategies to help you get better sleep

Need help with your sleep like Savannah? Robbins previously shared these strategies with TODAY:

1. Make sure you are exposed to blue light first thing in the morning.
2. Eat a healthy balanced diet spread out through the day so that you get a hearty breakfast, a good lunch and not much for dinner.
3. Keep alcohol and caffeine consumption to a minimum.
4. For 15 to 20 minutes before turning in, do something relaxing.
5. Keep your schedule on the weekends as close as possible to what it is on weekdays.
6. If you tend to wake up during the night and have trouble falling back to sleep, keep a note pad next to the bed and write down your thoughts.
7. If the notepad strategy doesn’t work, then get out of bed and do something relaxing, with the lights turned low, until you feel tired enough to fall back to sleep.

If you’re worried about how well you sleep, Robbins suggests talking to your doctor or seeing a sleep specialist.