Economic strain fuels bedtime stress and long-term sleep problems

Persistent financial stress may be robbing workers of quality sleep long before their heads hit the pillow, according to a new longitudinal study that links economic stress to harmful bedtime behaviors that ultimately degrade sleep quality.

The study, accepted to the Journal of Business and Psychology this September, set out to answer a question that has gained urgency amid rising economic instability: How do financial strain, job insecurity and dependence on one’s paycheck translate into poor sleep health over time?

Rebecca M. Brossoit, Ph.D., of the Department of Psychological Sciences at Rice University, who was the lead author of the paper, noted while prior studies have tied economic stress to poor sleep outcomes, the mechanisms behind that relationship have remained less clear.

So, she and her colleagues focused on what they call “stress before bed behaviors,” rumination, worry and emotional activation at bedtime as a potential pathway linking money stress to impaired sleep.

The study followed 704 full-time working adults who were members of the Army and Air National Guard in a Pacific Northwest U.S. state. Participants completed surveys at three time points (baseline, four months and nine months) and a large subset also wore wrist actigraphy devices for 21 consecutive days to objectively measure sleep.

“People typically report sleeping longer than what is collected on sleep trackers; in this study, the discrepancy was close to an hour.” Brossoit told MHE.

The sample was predominantly male (about 75%), mostly White, with an average age in the mid-30s, and represented a wide range of income levels, from under $25,000 to over $150,000 annually.

At baseline, researchers measured three distinct economic stressors: financial strain (difficulty living on current income), economic dependency on one’s job for basic survival and job insecurity. Four months later, participants reported how frequently they went to bed feeling stressed, angry, nervous or spent time worrying and planning in bed. At nine months, sleep outcomes were assessed using both self-reported measures and actigraphy, including insomnia symptoms, dissatisfaction with sleep, daytime sleep-related impairment, sleep duration and wake after sleep onset.

The results showed a clear pattern. Workers who reported greater financial strain, higher dependence on their job for survival or more job insecurity at baseline were significantly more likely to engage in stress-laden behaviors at bedtime four months later. In turn, those stress-before-bed behaviors predicted worse sleep outcomes at nine months, including greater insomnia symptoms, more dissatisfaction with sleep and more daytime impairment related to fatigue.

“Essentially, the energy it takes for people to manage economic stress is depleting and can reduce the mental bandwidth needed to habitually engage in healthy behaviors, in this case, healthy bedtime behaviors that impact sleep,” Brossoit said.

The researchers found that these bedtime stress behaviors statistically mediated the relationship between economic stress and poor sleep. In other words, financial pressure did not simply correlate with sleep problems; it appeared to operate by fueling persistent stress at night, which then disrupted sleep health months later.

Bedtime is often the first quiet moment people have all day, and that is when financial worries can take over.

“Because people may have fewer responsibilities and distractions at bedtime, we thought this time of day would be when worries about finances and job security would occur,” Brossoit said. “Those worries and the related emotions surrounding them interfere with the winding-down process that is needed for healthy sleep.”

Although sleep duration itself was not shortened by stress before bed behaviors, the quality of sleep took the greatest hit. Participants experiencing higher financial strain and bedtime stress reported more difficulty falling and staying asleep, poorer perceived sleep quality and greater impairment in mood and functioning during the day. 

Notably, these effects persisted even after controlling for actual income level, indicating that the subjective experience of economic stress, not just how much money someone earns, plays a central role in sleep health.

By identifying bedtime stress behaviors as a modifiable mechanism connecting financial stress to sleep impairment, the study points to new intervention targets.

The authors suggest that organizational policies that reduce income instability, improve job security and expand access to employer-based healthcare and financial counseling could indirectly improve sleep health.

“The costs associated with these efforts may be offset by the benefits of improved employee sleep—related to things like safer behaviors at work, higher-quality social interactions, better job performance and reduced healthcare utilization,” Brossoit said.

At the individual level, cognitive-behavioral strategies that reduce worry and emotional activation at bedtime may help buffer the effects of financial strain.

The researchers emphasize that economic stress and poor sleep are not simply personal problems but broader public health issues that intersect with health disparities.

“Individual-level strategies for managing stress and practicing healthy behaviors are certainly valuable, though I think the most meaningful and direct impact, and where the responsibility lies, comes from employers, organizations and our broader public policies that support working people,” Brossoit said.

As financial pressure continues to rise across many segments of the workforce, the study adds to growing evidence that reducing economic stress may be an essential component of improving national sleep health and overall well-being.