Is thinking about your bills and bank statements keeping you up at night?
Well, you’re not alone.
Most Americans (73%) are feeling stressed out by their finances — and young adults are even losing sleep over it, according to a study published by Empower.
More than half of Gen Z (56%) and millennials (51%) say their finances keep them up at night, compared to just 37% of Gen X and 20% of baby boomers.
“When we are stressed about anything, not just money, it can impact us physiologically,” Aja Evans, a licensed mental health counselor and financial therapist, told The Post.
“It can manifest physically in high blood pressure, headaches, stomachaches, and decreased sleep. Your stress or anxiety keeps you up at night when you should be relaxing to fall asleep.
“Instead, you stay awake ruminating about your situation.”
While it is to be expected that younger generations are less financially stable than their elders, various generations are worried about different financial issues.
The main financial stressor keeping Gen Z and millennials tossing and turning is the housing market, as many from these generations believe they’ll never own a home and are still living at home.
About 67% said higher home prices and mortgage rates stressed them out, compared with just under half of Gen X and baby boomers.
And the divide is nearly the same when it comes to spiking rents with 62% of Gen Z and millennials worrying, compared to 38% of those from the older generations.
Two-thirds of Americans (67%) say their income isn’t keeping up with inflation, but it’s impacting people in varying ways.
Unsurprisingly, as student loan payments pick up, they are also stressing Gen Z and millennials out at much higher rates (48%) compared to Gen X and boomers (20%).
The only issues that caused more financial stress to Gen X and baby boomer were politics, inflation and the rising cost of goods and services.
To ease their stress, seven in 10 Americans have made at least one money move to improve their situation, including cutting back on daily expenses (71%), delaying large purchases (65%) and switching to cheaper brands (64%).
But just 39% say they’re talking to a financial professional to help ease their money worries.
For those trying to handle the situation on their own, Evans suggested that people look at their goals and figure out what they are trying to achieve while being realistic.
“Oftentimes, we want to do too much in too little time. Decide what is important to you,” she advised.
Once a plan has been made, stick to it.
“Your plan is there to help make sure you get to your goals. It is not there to shift and change your strategy every time you are super stressed — that can only lead to you spinning your wheels,” Evans told The Post.
“Go back to your plan when you find yourself stressed out,” she said, noting that it would be a way to “ground yourself in the decisions you made when you weren’t upset.”