The vast majority of Americans were already worried about their financial health—and that was before the announcement of Trump’s tariffs, which almost guarantee that money stress is going to get worse.
Economists predict rising prices on numerous essentials like groceries. JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon has called this a time of “considerable turbulence” in the marketplace, and finance experts predict job seekers will face even more uncertainty.
It’s well-documented that financial doom and gloom take a physical and emotional toll. The American Heart Association found that 82% of American adults are stressed about money. A Bankrate survey last year found 47% of Americans say money worries have a negative effect on their mental health, while other studies point to financial stress’s negative impact on work productivity and personal relationships. And nearly half of Americans in financial stress say it negatively impacts their sleep, according to Wagestream, a financial well-being management platform.
Research also finds even more evidence that money woes hurt your body and brain. A study, published in Science, found that over time, financial stress can lower your IQ by 13 points, which can have the same impact on the brain as losing a night’s sleep.
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“When you are worrying about money and thinking about how to manage incoming payments, it can consume your processing power and research suggests it is not a little bit, it’s actually quite a lot,” Emily Trant, head of impact and inclusion at Wagestream, told the Financial Times in a past interview about the health consequences of financial stress. “When people are stressed about money they are less able to make good decisions and they are less able to be productive at work and less able to control their emotions and impulse … Financial stress is actually worse than losing an entire night’s sleep, and anyone who has young kids will know that can really impact your very next day. So, imagine having that on repeat for day in and day out. It can be incredibly difficult to come out of that.”
Getting at least seven hours of sleep a night for adults helps protect against cardiovascular disease and dementia, and ensures you’re alert, safe, and able to make informed decisions.
In addition to practicing good sleep hygiene habits before bed, such as limiting screen time and turning down the lights and temperature, experts told Fortune to use these tips to calm a worrying mind about finances:
- See a financial therapist to discuss money beliefs and spending patterns to help you navigate your emotions
- Exercise or meditate to get your mind in a different space that would make tackling financial challenges feel more doable
- Take baby steps toward creating a savings cushion
For more on how to get good sleep:
- Meet ‘cognitive shuffling,’ the emerging strategy for better sleep
- Here’s why more Americans are opting for a ‘sleep divorce’
- Insomnia affects up to 50% of adults and can hurt your body and brain. Experts say these tips can help you beat it