P098 "It's just [complicated] sleep": Discourses of sleep and ageing in the media Open Access

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.

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.

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.

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.