By Tamieka Welsh ·Updated March 20, 2026 < /> Getting your Trinity Audio player ready… After a long day, getting ready for bed can feel like the ultimate reward. You’re showered, maybe your favorite comfort show is playing (hello, Girlfriends fans), and it’s finally time to rest. But instead of drifting off peacefully, you find yourself tossing and turning, struggling to fall asleep. And it’s not hard to see why.
With so much happening in the world right now, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. A quick scroll through social media brings constant reminders of the recession, financial pressure, and global uncertainty. And for the more than 600,000 Black women who have been laid off, that stress can feel even heavier.
Unfortunately, when all of that pressure builds, sleep is often one of the first things to suffer. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Black adults are more likely to experience shorter sleep duration and poorer sleep quality compared with other racial groups. Chronic stress, financial strain, and the everyday pressure many Black women carry can make it harder for the body to fully relax—even when the hours of sleep are technically there.
“My mind is racing right before falling asleep, and it picks up the moment I open my eyes,” says Marsha Badger, a journalist who has been navigating increased financial stress after being laid off last year.
That experience feels familiar to journalist Angelica Wilson. “Every ounce of my physical being just wants to relax, but my mind is still flipping through thoughts like a money counter,” she says, describing what it feels like to be physically exhausted but mentally alert.
To quiet her mind, Wilson sometimes has to talk herself through the moment. “Sometimes I have to tell myself, ‘we’re trying to go to sleep, let’s go to sleep,’ just to slow my thoughts down.”
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