diff --git a/tests/test_accelerator.py b/tests/test_accelerator.py
index 2caf8b39fbe..a5ff3d0d50c 100644
--- a/tests/test_accelerator.py
+++ b/tests/test_accelerator.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 import os
 import pickle
 import tempfile
+import time
 from unittest.mock import patch
 
 import psutil
@@ -220,6 +221,10 @@ def test_free_memory_dereferences_prepared_components(self):
         model, optimizer, scheduler, train_dl, valid_dl = accelerator.prepare(
             model, optimizer, scheduler, train_dl, valid_dl
         )
+
+        # Short sleep here makes this test more reliable
+        time.sleep(1e-3)
+
         model, optimizer, scheduler, train_dl, valid_dl = accelerator.free_memory(
             model, optimizer, scheduler, train_dl, valid_dl
         )