How Financial Stress Affects Your Sleep

 
 

More than half of the adults in the US between the ages of 21 and 62 felt anxiety and stress about their personal finances well before the pandemic. According to a report from FINRA Investor Education Foundation, major factors for this included lack of assets, insufficient income, high debt, low financial literacy, and money management challenges — all coupled with too many expenses and high monthly bills.

Unfortunately, financial stress sets up a vicious cycle. Anxious and stressed adults are more likely to engage in costly financial behaviors, including withdrawing cash from retirement accounts and borrowing from high-cost financial service firms. This, in turn, leads to more money problems. Moreover, financial stress can be detrimental to our physical, mental, and emotional health, particularly as it leads to difficulty sleeping. In this article, we’ll take a look at the relationship between financial stress and sleep, as well as what you can do about it.

Money Woes at Bedtime


Previous research suggests that the best sleepers are those who are financially comfortable. On the other hand, those who are living from paycheck to paycheck rate themselves as poor sleepers. The way we handle our finances is actually a part of self-care, especially since sleep and stress go in a bidirectional relationship. It’s hard to fall asleep and stay asleep when we’re panicking about our financial futures. And when we're not well-rested, we struggle to deal with our finances in an optimal way.

Researchers from the University of South Florida found that it takes only three consecutive nights of sleep loss for your mental and physical well-being to deteriorate. Sleeping fewer than six hours for eight consecutive nights can trigger symptoms such as anger, nervousness, irritability, frustration, and loneliness. Just one night of sleep loss can impact daily functions, and a habit of sleep loss makes it difficult for your body to fully recover from a lack of sleep.

Again, the vicious cycle comes into play here: when we don’t sleep because of money woes, we aren’t performing at our best. Our daily performance is at risk, potentially endangering us and the way we handle our money.

Dealing With Financial Stress At Night


Being financially fit is a learning process, especially as many of us aren’t taught what we need to know. The key is to be gentle with ourselves and prioritize our health. So, here are three tips for dealing with financial stress at night.

Pause the money talk

If we’re planning to talk about our finances with our spouse, family, or friends, it’s best to get the timing right. Conversations on stressful things at night won’t get you anywhere. Also, your rational brain is actually falling asleep at night. So, save financial discussions for the morning, when you’re refreshed and can approach the topic in a rational, logical manner.


Put it down on paper

Writing down our worries helps us let go of the day, particularly challenges and questions lingering in our minds. Unleash these thoughts on a notepad before you settle down to sleep. The budgeting tips listed on AskMoney show how working on a draft budget will help you track how your bills are going to get paid and how much money you’ll have left over.

By writing down your income and expenses, you have a better idea of some of the changes to make in your spending. Not in the mood to do computations at night? Get introspective. Write about your worries and examine where these thoughts come from. Often, our experiences as children set the pattern for the way we handle money as adults, so self-reflection on this point wouldn’t hurt.


Set yourself to sleep mode

To succeed with sleep, we need to invest in it. A comfortable mattress, the right sleeping temperature, and measures to keep out light and noise are ideal for a good night’s rest. Psycholgist Dr. Marsha M. Linehan’s stress coping skill, TIPP, can also mitigate stress. Temperature change, Intense exercise, Paced Breathing, and Paired muscle relaxation are techniques you can do throughout the day to prepare your body for bedtime.

For more sleep insights, please check out the other blog posts on the Mind Body Garden psychology website. If you have insomnia and needs professional help to recover without sleeping pills, please check out Dr. Xu’s insomnia treatment services and online courses (CBT for Insomnia).


This article is brought to you by Mind & Body Garden Psychology —- Psychological services available in multiple languages (English, Mandarin, Cantonese): 650-434-2563 (Voicemail only); admin@mindbodygarden.com. We are out-of-network providers, HSA/FSA accepted. Send us a text message on the phone, or call us and leave a voicemail.

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Dr. Yishan Xusleep, stress, financialComment