Stress is not just unpleasant. It is expensive. A 2024 working paper from the University of Lodz notes projections that poor mental health will cost the global economy around $6 trillion a year by 2030 (Żółtaszek). Most of that cost is not people missing work. It is people at work and not at their best.
Apply that to real estate. An agent running on four hours of sleep is not at their sharpest in a negotiation. An agent who is stressed and has not eaten since breakfast is more likely to be short with a client or miss a follow-up. I do not think health is a side topic in this business. In my experience it shows up directly in the work.
This is my opinion and my experience, not medical advice. If you have a health concern, talk to your doctor.
Your brain on stress
Short bursts of stress hormones are useful for reacting fast. They are much less useful for reading a counteroffer carefully (Inman). Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence popularized the idea that strong emotion and chronic stress get in the way of judgment and self-control (Goleman), and anyone who has negotiated while exhausted will recognize it.
Mindfulness is one tool. The American Psychological Association reported in 2012 on research linking mindfulness practice with lower stress and higher productivity (American Psychological Association), and Inman has written about agents who use it to manage the pressure of the job (Inman). It is not a cure-all, but five or ten minutes of focused breathing before a hard call costs nothing.
What you eat matters
A 2025 study in Occupational Health Science found that day-to-day barriers to healthy eating at work were linked, through people’s food choices, to higher daily stress and lower job performance (“The Impact of Healthy Choices at Work”). For an agent, a skipped lunch between showings is not a badge of honor. It is a reason the 4 p.m. call goes badly.
Sleep is not optional
Sleep and stress feed each other. A 2025 study in Psychological Medicine using UK Biobank data reported that people with more regular sleep patterns had a substantially lower risk of developing depression and anxiety than irregular sleepers, even after accounting for how long they slept (“Regular Sleep Patterns”). In other words, when you sleep may matter as well as how much.
Routine
A predictable rhythm to the day removes a lot of small decisions. For me that means a consistent time to prospect, to show homes, to eat, to exercise and to sleep. The same sleep-regularity research is one reason I treat a consistent bedtime as part of the routine rather than something left over (“Regular Sleep Patterns”).
Movement
In a study of about 1.2 million U.S. adults, people who exercised reported fewer days of poor mental health per month than people who did not, after adjusting for other factors (Chekroud et al.). For an agent, a twenty- or thirty-minute walk between appointments is not wasted time.
A simple framework to start
- Sleep: the same bedtime and wake time every day.
- Food: plan meals around showings so you are not skipping them.
- Movement: a 20- to 30-minute walk most days.
- Routine: set times for prospecting, appointments and admin.
- Mindfulness: five to ten minutes of focused breathing.
- Self-talk: acknowledge progress, not just the destination.
This is part of the job
Real estate is known for long hours and constant pressure. You would not expect to get stronger by skipping the gym, and I do not think you can grow professionally while neglecting your health. The deals you work depend on the mind you bring to the table.
If stress feels persistent or overwhelming despite changes like these, please reach out to a licensed mental-health professional. Therapy and counseling offer support that self-guided habits cannot.