Last week we were bombarded by the media over the controversy surrounding New Jersey Governor Chris Christie‘s staff and “Bridgegate.”  During his recent press conference regarding this matter, Christie indicated at 2:27 in this video clip below, “I haven’t had a lot of sleep the last two nights, and I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching.”

I want to make clear this is not in any way a political post, and is not intended to defend or criticize Christie or anyone else.  I present this here simply to illustrate one generally well-understood point, which is that emotionally significant life events–whether they be good or bad–commonly cause difficulties sleeping.

There are several potential reasons for this.  First, problematic life events–such as Christie’s–are often accompanied or followed by mood problems and anxiety, both of which can cause difficulties falling and staying asleep.  Depression is commonly associated with insomnia–in particular a phenomenon called “early morning awakening,” in which the depressed person tends to awaken spontaneously several hours earlier than the normal or desired time, with very substantial problems returning to sleep.  Second, anything that you think about in bed that is of emotional value can cause difficulties sleeping, because those thoughts have a stimulating effect which makes you more awake and alert.  The more intense the emotions or concerns (I suppose that would include “soul-searching”), the more psychologically and physically stimulated you can get (an extreme example might be the feeling of sweating and heart-pounding upon hearing devastating news), and this stimulation can cause your insomnia to snowball.

OK, I will add just one brief, slightly political point here.  I wish people in the media would stop calling Christie fat and teasing him for it.  I NEVER use this term in my clinic or socially to refer to one’s weight.  Plus, he’s lost a substantial amount of weight following his gastric lap band surgery last year.  I’ve heard several Christie “fat jokes” on national radio and television programs in the past week.  Really?  Come on, folks, let’s at least be civil, yeah?

Anyhow, in a completely different matter, Pete Carroll, head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, said in a television interview last week that he hasn’t been sleeping much lately either, but that’s probably because of how crazy his schedule must be right now in addition to the excitement of prepping his team for the playoffs and, now, Sunday’s NFC championship game!  There must be some anticipatory anxiety, for sure, and this kind of emotion certainly can lead to sleepless nights as well, though for reasons quite different from (and in many ways the opposite of) Christie’s.  And hopefully–understand, I live in Seattle–he won’t have any sleepless nights due to game losses in the next several weeks!

Finally, continuing with the football theme, I will leave you today with this recent video clip of ESPN analyst and former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka dozing while on air during ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown Show.  Keyshawn Johnson had to nudge him awake!  Glad Coach was behind a desk and not behind the wheel at the time.

I have no idea what the circumstances were that led to Ditka’s on-air snooze.  Maybe he was watching George Wendt‘s State Farm commercials over and over late the previous night.

Enjoy the playoffs, everyone, no matter who you’re rootin’ for!