Dementia-related sleep changes can lead to disruptions among families living with dementia which can jeopardise carers’ wellbeing and ability to provide support. This research explores and represents the sleep of family caregivers across the trajectory of caring, before, during, and after the key period of their care recipient moving into residential care. The focus of this paper is viewing dementia caregiving as a trajectory, characterised by care needs which change over time. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 carers whose family member with dementia had transitioned into residential care within the prior 2 years. Themes constructed from these interviews indicated that sleep was linked to earlier life course patterns as well as to significant moments of transition in the caregiving journey. As dementia progressed, carers’ sleep progressively worsened in relation to the less predictable nature of dementia-symptoms, difficulty maintaining routines, and constant responsibilities creating a state of high alert. Carers attempted to facilitate better sleep and wellbeing for their family member, often sacrificing their own self-care. Around the care transition period, some cares reported not realising how sleep deprived they were; for others the busy momentum continued. After the transition, many carers acknowledged that they were exhausted, although many had not realised this while providing home-based care. Post-transition, many carers reported ongoing sleep disruptions associated with poor sleep habits established whilst caring, insomnia or nightmares and grief. Carers were optimistic that their sleep would improve with time and many were enjoying sleeping according to their own preferences. The sleep experience of family carers is unique and includes tensions between their essential need for sleep and the experience of care as self-sacrifice. Findings have implications for timely support and interventions for families living with dementia.
Sleep has been recognised as compromised in dementia care. This study aims to represent the experiences and needs of informal carers via sleep-related accounts. Retrospective interviews were conducted with 20 carers concerning sleep changes across the trajectory of dementia care. Key interactive narratives were around: ‘sleep as my sacrifice’; tensions between identities of being a ‘sleeper’ versus ‘guardian’; and ‘sleep as a luxury’. Maintaining healthy sleep and preferable sleep practices is challenging while balancing the responsibilities of dementia-related care. Acknowledging sleep as a sociological practice enables a greater understanding of carers’ nuanced experience and support needs.
The media are influential in shaping beliefs and attitudes on ageing and health-related behaviours. Sleep is increasingly recognised as a key pillar for healthy ageing. However, the role of media representations of sleep are yet to be assessed with regards to discourses of ageing. Texts from New Zealand’s main free online news-source were collated using key words “sleep” together with ''ageing'', ''older'', ''elderly'', or ''dementia'' between 2018 and 2021. Contents of 38 articles were interpreted using critical discourse analysis. Discursive constructions described an inevitable decline of sleep with ageing, including impacts of both physiological decline and life stage transitions; sleep’s role as both a remedy and risk for ill health and disease; and the simplification of solutions for self-managing sleep juxtaposed alongside recognition of its complexity. The audience of these complex messages are left in the invidious position of both pursuing sleep practices to prevent age-related decline, whilst also being told that sleep degradation is inevitable. This research demonstrates the complexity of media messaging and the fraught options it offers: good sleep as both a reasonable achievement to strive for and as impossibly idealistic. Findings mirror two predominant health identities available to older people, as responsible for resisting ageing or as falling into inevitable decline. This reveals additional expectations around appropriate time use and behaviours with ageing. More nuanced messaging that goes beyond sleep as a resource for health and waking productivity is recommended. Acknowledging the complexity of sleep, ageing, and society could be the starting point of such adaptation.
Background Physiological and psychosocial changes during pregnancy are often associated with altered sleep. Beliefs and expectations about sleep at this life-stage inform social discourses and help-seeking, in turn influencing women’s health and wellbeing. An understanding of discourses concerning sleep and pregnancy is required. Analysis of sleep-related messaging within mainstream media contributes to this understanding. Method Texts from New Zealand’s primary free online news source “Stuff” were identified using key words “sleep AND pregnancy” or “sleep AND pregnant” between December 2018 and December 2021. Forty-three relevant articles were collated. A critical discourse analysis was used to describe and interpret the texts in relation to discursive practices and wider social explanations. Findings Discursive constructions included: ‘banking’ sleep before baby; sleep’s role in ‘being the perfect mother’ (including ways to reduce risk of infant death through sleep practices); the inevitability that sleep will fail amongst the busy lifestyle of parenthood. Pregnant women were presented as responsible for good sleep yet not provided the knowledge of how to achieve it. Furthermore, pregnant women’s sleep situations were used to illustrate ‘desperate times’ associated with poor living or working situations. Conclusions Social discourses of sleep and pregnancy within mainstream media were sensationalised including tensions between discouraging ‘harmful’ sleep practices whilst also asserting that poor sleep is inevitable due to physiological changes and the negotiation of sleep with others, which would only worsen after birth. Findings will inform future research in the field of sleep as a social concept and practice among people during pregnancy.
Background Sleep disturbances have been reported to increase with older age. However, sleep-related beliefs and practices also appear to change with ageing and disease, having implications for measurement and management of sleep among older people. Analysis of sleep-related messaging within mainstream media contributes to understanding social discourses of sleep and ageing. Method Texts from New Zealand’s main free online news source “Stuff” were collated using key words “sleep” together with ''ageing'', ''older'', ''elderly'', or ''dementia'' between December 2018 and December 2021. A total of 38 relevant articles were collated. A critical discourse analysis was used to describe the texts then interpret them in relation to discursive practices and wider social explanations. Findings Texts were categorised under basic contextual themes: general ageing, disease, beauty, and treatments. Discursive constructions described an inevitable decline of sleep with ageing, including the tensions between a likely physiological decline alongside individual failures to achieve good sleep; sleep’s role as both a remedy and risk for diseases (such as dementia); and the simplification of solutions for self-managing sleep alongside recognition of the complexity of sleep. Conclusions Social discourses of sleep and ageing within the mainstream New Zealand media were subtle and contradictory. Punctured with tensions between endorsing sleep practices and purchases to prevent age-related decline whilst also asserting that decline is inevitable due to the complexity of the ageing body and modern society. Findings will inform future research in the field of sleep as a concept and practice among older people.
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