The Number One Reason Why You Can’t Sleep
There are oodles of reasons women can’t sleep–between the snoring husband and the crying kids and the bored dog and the annoying boss and the to-do list that’s more of a to-do scroll… le sigh. But the number one reason we can’t sleep is even more unglamorous than that.
The biggest reason women toss and turn? Money. What’s worse, we lose way more sleep over it than men do. (I think I just threw up a little.)
According to a 2011 study by Manilla, nearly one in three women’s sleepless nights are all about the benjamins… while one in three men reported that “nothing” keeps them up at night. Ugh.
This isn’t a surprising stat to say the least, considering about 66 percent of women are now the CFO of their household, according to Women & Co. research. That being said, I can’t help but be a tad skeptical of studies that come out like this: A study that says financial problems are screwing with our sleep by a company that just happens to provide financial services? Hm.
But when I did more digging, I found a Canadian study that was similar in scope and the results were just as alarming: A national study on behalf of the Financial Planning Standards Council found 51 percent of women versus 40 percent of men are more likely to stay away at night because of financial worries.
“Women and men are simply different, from their brains to their emotions to why and how they relate,” financial author Kelley Keehn said in the statement. “For women, financial planning is inclusive, focused on building and maintaining the family, community and even beyond, well into the future. Men, meanwhile, tend to focus less on relationships and more on shorter-term transactions.”
According to Keehn, this is a huge factor in why men and women lock heads about money: When faced with stress, men release higher doses of adrenaline (the “fight or flight” hormone), while women produce higher levels of oxytocin (as Keehn puts it, the “tend or befriend” hormone). Our instinct is to multitask our decision-making, taking multiple future outcomes into consideration when making decisions – and when you’re penny pinching to the point where one wrong move can send you into a financial tailspin, this can take a serious toll.
I too have a chronic cash obsession, and I only have myself and my cat to think of – I can only imagine how women raising kids (and a husband, HA) must feel. Lucky for us, if there’s one thing women rock at, it’s planning. There are plenty of sneaky strategies to save money on groceries, energy, and every day essentials without negatively impacting your standard of living.
Plus, technology makes it so much easier to keep track of our finances. One tool that’s improving the quality of my life (and sleep pattern) in a big way is Wave: A free, online bookkeeping software that’s everything you could ever want (and I mean everything). It’s simple, streamlined, and takes the overwhelm out of financial planning. (Case in point: I have a bank account balance without a minus sign in front of it for the first time in… well, ever.) The next time you can’t sleep because of your money (or lack thereof), check them out. You’ll be sleeping like a baby in no time.
Are financial worries the biggest reason you can’t sleep?
Related on Organic Authority
10 Ways to Take Your Beauty Sleep to a Whole New Level
Don’t Do Early Mornings? You May Have a Sleep Disorder
Sleep Like a Baby: 10 Tricks for a Better Snooze
Image: Tired woman photo via Shutterstock
