"It's Just [Complicated] Sleep": Discourses of Sleep and Aging in the Media.

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dc.citation.issue10
dc.citation.volume63
dc.contributor.authorBreheny M
dc.contributor.authorRoss I
dc.contributor.authorLadyman C
dc.contributor.authorSignal L
dc.contributor.authorDew K
dc.contributor.authorGibson R
dc.coverage.spatialUnited States
dc.date.accessioned2024-05-16T01:51:58Z
dc.date.available2024-05-16T01:51:58Z
dc.date.issued2023-12
dc.description.abstractThe media are influential in shaping beliefs and attitudes on aging and health-related behaviors. Sleep is increasingly recognized as a key pillar for healthy aging. However, the role of media representations of sleep is yet to be assessed with regard to discourses of aging. Texts from New Zealand's main free online news source were collated using key words "sleep" together with "aging," "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 aging, 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 is 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 aging or as falling into inevitable decline. This reveals additional expectations around appropriate time use and behaviors with aging. More nuanced messaging that goes beyond sleep as a resource for health and waking productivity is recommended. Acknowledging the complexity of sleep, aging, and society could be the starting point of such adaptation.
dc.description.confidentialfalse
dc.edition.editionDecember 2023
dc.format.pagination1591-1601
dc.identifier.author-urlhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37191628
dc.identifier.citationBreheny M, Ross I, Ladyman C, Signal L, Dew K, Gibson R. (2023). "It's Just [Complicated] Sleep": Discourses of Sleep and Aging in the Media.. Gerontologist. 63. 10. (pp. 1591-1601).
dc.identifier.doi10.1093/geront/gnad058
dc.identifier.eissn1758-5341
dc.identifier.elements-typejournal-article
dc.identifier.issn0016-9013
dc.identifier.pii7165131
dc.identifier.urihttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/69580
dc.languageeng
dc.publisherOxford University Press
dc.publisher.urihttps://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article/63/10/1591/7165131
dc.relation.isPartOfGerontologist
dc.rights(c) 2023 The Author/s
dc.rightsCC BY-NC 4.0
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
dc.subjectCritical discourse analysis
dc.subjectDementia
dc.subjectInsomnia
dc.subjectNew Zealand
dc.subjectNews
dc.subjectHumans
dc.subjectAged
dc.subjectAging
dc.subjectSleep
dc.subjectAttitude
dc.subjectHealth Behavior
dc.subjectRecognition, Psychology
dc.title"It's Just [Complicated] Sleep": Discourses of Sleep and Aging in the Media.
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.elements-id461683
pubs.organisational-groupOther
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