In our culture, exhaustion is often celebrated as a badge of honor. Black women who skimp on sleep thinking they’re making money in the short term are only setting themselves up for a financial downfall in the smallest and biggest of ways.
Sleep, not sacrifice, is the cheat code for financial success.
Exhaustion As The New Normal
Before Kev Tolliver, a senior global marketing and communications leader, started prioritizing rest, exhaustion was just part of her normal routine. She believed sacrificing sleep was the price of ambition—that staying up all night was the mark of success. Over time, she realized that what she had called discipline was actually depletion. “Being constantly tired affected my focus, my patience, and my ability to show up calm and in control. I was always rushing, always trying to catch up, and rarely felt fully present at work.”
This approach to work eventually turned into burnout, and her body made it impossible to ignore. In fact, it collapsed: “Instead of working and earning a paycheck, I was focused on staying alive, sitting through treatments, and learning how to live on disability.”
That contrast forced an honest reckoning—it brought her dangerously close to losing everything she was trying to build. Once she centered sleep as part of her recovery, her life changed in ways she hadn’t expected. “Rest allowed me to think strategically instead of reactively. I became more present, more decisive, and better able to assess opportunities without operating from survival mode.”
Burnout Makes You Broke
Similarly, Brittany Cole’s exhaustion didn’t look like career or financial self-sabotage at first. As CEO of Career Thrivers, a leadership development firm, she was high-performing. But she was living in a constant state of urgency—overworking, overthinking, and defaulting to short-term problem solving instead of long-term strategy. This meant her time, energy, and attention were divided. “I noticed it in my decision-making, and it looked like saying yes too quickly, carrying more than I needed to, and compensating for fatigue with more effort.”
Cole began to slow down enough to think clearly and make decisions from alignment rather than obligation. “That shift directly impacted how I stewarded my business, my income, and my capacity to lead sustainably.”
She also became more intentional about how long she slept and tracking the quality and consistency of her sleep. “I used a sleep-tracking device and noticed patterns of stress-related sleep—nights where I was technically resting, but my body wasn’t recovering,” shares Cole.
All culminating in an increase in wealth. In 2025, Cole experienced one of her most profitable years—not because she worked more, but because she didn’t. “Rest didn’t just protect my health, it strengthened my leadership, improved my financial outcomes, and allowed me to build wealth without burning myself out in the process.”
Black Women Want To Sleep, But Here’s Why We Can’t
Tolliver’s and Cole’s experiences aren’t just personal anecdotes—they are supported by medical research that links sleep deprivation to adverse effects on the brain, decision-making, and long-term financial outcomes.
And then there’s the added layers of race and gender. “Sleep is one of the most powerful health-protective body functions. Yet for many Black women, sleep is routinely disrupted,” says Dr. Camille Upchurch, MD, a wealth coach for women physicians. For many Black women, sleep disruption is not a matter of discipline (or lack thereof)—it’s a matter of stress. According to research in Ethnicity and Health , caregiving demands, community safety concerns, financial strain, and the cultural demands of being a “strong Black woman” all contribute to poor sleep.
Forget Beauty Sleep. We Need Wealth Sleep.
While we can’t fight all of the systemic levers that make sleep feel like a luxury, we can get smarter about our sleep hygiene right now. In 2015, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society formally defined sleep deprivation as less than six hours of sleep within a 24-hour period. “Healthy adults should aim for 7–9 hours of sleep per night,”says Dr. Iris Grattan, naturopathic doctor and founder of KISS Naturopathic Inc.”
Sleep deprivation weakens executive functioning. “When executive functioning is compromised, people may still appear productive, but they lose the cognitive tools required for strategic thinking and long-term planning,” says Dr. Grattan. Even a few hours of sleep deprivation will derail your career and wealth growth:
- Sleeping less than six hours within a 24-hour period increases risky behavior, particularly in times of uncertainty. “Even mild-to-moderate sleep deprivation of 1.5 to 2 hours increases impulsivity,” says Dr. Grattan. In this state, individuals may respond faster to perceived threats or opportunities but lose the ability to stop themselves from making incorrect or inappropriate choices.
- Sleeping less than six hours a night also is associated with significant increases in healthcare costs over a lifetime. For example, short sleep duration (≤5–6 hours) is associated with $1,278–$1,400 in additional annual healthcare expenditures.
- Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep plays a critical role in emotional regulation, memory consolidation, and cognitive processing. Reduced REM has been closely linked to neuropsychiatric conditions, including PTSD and depression.
A Good Night’s Rest May Not Be Easy, But It Is Doable
Taking our wealth and health into our own hands can be a powerful way to protect both. Doctors Grattan and Upchurch recommend these small yet effective practices:
Keep your sleep sacred: Set a consistent sleep and wake time. This helps your body build a reliable rhythm, which improves the quality of your sleep.
Reduce stress signals before bed: Consider avoiding heavy meals and caffeine late in the day, and reduce screen time before bed. These habits keep your body in “fight or flight” and prevent deep rest.
Set the mood: Try to opt for quiet sounds, comfortable bedding, and cooler temperatures to signal safety to your nervous system. A calming pre-sleep routine (like reading, journaling, or breathing exercises) helps your body relax and prepare for deep sleep.
Build a sleep team: Delegate, outsource, or ask for support. When you build a team, you create the space you need to rest without sacrificing productivity.
If You Want Wealth, Start With Rest
Sleep is not the enemy of progress — it is the source of it. When we remember that quality sleep leads to quality decision-making, the shift becomes clear: clarity replaces urgency, presence replaces autopilot, and opportunities are evaluated through the lens of long-term stability rather than fear. Exhaustion stops being equated with worth, and success becomes something that can coexist with wellness. In other words, sleep doesn’t slow progress — it restores the capacity to lead, earn, and plan from a place of strength.
With science on our side, we — as Black women — can confidently release the idea that tiredness equals value or that grinding will get us far. We will rest. Our bodies and bottom lines are depending on us.
Kara Stevens is founder of The Frugal Feminista and author of heal your relationship with money and Unmasking the Strong Black Woman.