Search

In this paper we seek to understand the influence of gender on the different approaches to managing poor sleep by older men and women through the conceptual framework of existing theoretical debates on medicalization, healthicization and 'personalization'. In-depth interviews undertaken between January and July 2008 with 62 people aged 65-95 who were experiencing poor sleep, revealed that the majority of older men and women resisted the medicalization of poor sleep, as they perceived sleep problems in later life were an inevitable consequence of ageing. However, older men and women engaged differently with the healthicization of poor sleep, with women far more likely than men to explore a range of alternative sleep remedies, such as herbal supplements, and were also much more likely than men to engage in behavioural practices to promote good sleep, and to avoid practices which prevented sleep. Women situated 'sleep' alongside more abstract discussions of 'diet' and health behaviours and drew on the discourses of the media, friends, family and their own experiences to create 'personalized' strategies, drawn from a paradigm of healthicization. Men, however, solely relied on the 'body' to indicate when sleep was needed and gauged their sleep needs largely by how they felt, and were able to function the following day., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Poor sleep is known to impact on health and wellbeing in later life and has implications for the ability of older people to remain active during the day. Medical treatments for chronic poor sleep have primarily included the regular, long-term prescribing of hypnotics, which are known to impact on older people's health, cognitive function and quality of life. Therefore, recent policy and practice has focused on reducing such prescribing, on encouraging older people to stop taking long-term hypnotics and on finding alternative, non-pharmacological ways to manage poor sleep. However, little research has been undertaken to understand the perspectives of older people who choose not to seek professional help for their poor sleep, despite the potential impact of poor sleep on their health and ability to remain active. Through in-depth interviews with 62 older men and women living in their own homes in England, this article explores the factors that deter older people from seeking professional help for their poor sleep. We argue that these are located in their perceptions of the normativity of poor sleep in later life, their beliefs about prescription sleeping medications and their desire to maintain control and autonomy over their everyday and night lives., (© 2012 The Authors. Sociology of Health & Illness © 2012 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness/Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

Sleep disturbances are a common problem among institutionalized older people. Studies have shown that this population experiences prolonged sleep latency, increased fragmentation and wake after sleep onset, more disturbed circadian rhythms, and night-day reversal. However, studies have not examined the extent to which this is because of individual factors known to influence sleep (such as age) or because of the institutional environment. This article compares actigraphic data collected for 14 days from 122 non-demented institutional care residents (across ten care facilities) with 52 community dwelling poor sleepers >65 yrs of age. Four dependent variables were analyzed: (i) "interdaily stability" (IS); (ii) "intradaily variability" (IV); (iii) relative amplitude (RA) of the activity rhythm; and (iv) mean 24 h activity level. Data were analyzed using a fixed-effect, single-level model (using MLwiN). This model enables comparisons between community and institutional care groups to be made while conditioning out possible "individual" effects of "age," "sex," "level of dependency," "level of incontinence care," and "number of regular daily/prescribed medications." After controlling for the effects of a range of individual level factors, and after controlling for unequal variance across groups (heteroscedascity), there was little difference between community dwelling older adults and institutional care residents in IS score, suggesting that the stability of day-to-day patterns (such as bed get-up, lunch times, etc.) is similar within these two resident groups. However, institutional care residents experienced more fragmented rest/wake patterns (having significantly higher IV scores and significantly lower mean activity values). Our findings strongly suggest that the institutional care environment itself has a negative association with older people's rest/wake patterns; although, longitudinal studies are required to fully understand any causal relationships.

Within western societies, it is commonplace for couples to share a bed. Yet there has been remarkably little research carried out on couples' sleep. This paper draws upon actigraphy, audio diary, and questionnaire data from both partners of 36 heterosexual couples (age 20-59 yrs) and aims to quantify the extent to which it is important to take into account the dyadic nature of sleep-wake cycles. It achieves this through two interrelated aims: to use hierarchical linear models to measure dyadic interdependence in actigraphically recorded variables, and to investigate how much of this dyadic interdependence truly results from couple dynamics. The variables with the most significant couple interdependency were actual bed time, sleep latency, light/dark ratio, and wake bouts. The paper concludes by suggesting that interdependence may be the defining feature of couples' sleep, and that we need to employ analytic approaches that both acknowledge this and are sensitive to the possibilities that not all aspects of sleep will behave in the same way.

Recent literature has highlighted the sociological significance of sleep and has suggested that sleep offers a 'window' onto the gendered nature of our lives. Yet within this body of work men's sleep has been largely ignored. This paper seeks to rectify this omission and situates itself at the intersection between literature on the sociological aspects of sleep and social-constructionist-orientated writings on men's health. It draws upon qualitative data from 40 men to investigate male understandings of, and attitudes towards, sleep. At first glance, it could be suggested that men have little regard for sleep, and are prone to taking risks with their dormancy. Viewed in this way sleep becomes an instrument used in the negotiation of status and power and intrinsically bound up with the demonstration of masculinities. Yet, men's relationship with sleep is more complex than this. Amongst other things, the men within the present study were embroiled in a function/non-function dichotomy. Sleep was seen as needed for the praxis of 'father', 'worker', 'husband' and 'mate' but was also considered as something which should not get in the way of performing these roles.

The study of sleep has been neglected within sociology, yet may provide insights into fundamental aspects of the nature of gender inequalities. This article examines how, for couples with children, sleep is influenced by the gendered nature of caring. A key concern is not only who gets up to care for children's physical needs at night, but whether this changes with women's increased role in the labour market. Of concern also is how changes in the nature of caring for older children, as opposed to young children, may impact on parents' sleep. This article analyses qualitative data from an ESRC funded multi-disciplinary project on couples' sleep based on in-depth audio-tape recorded interviews with 26 couples (aged 20-59) with younger and older children. Additionally, one week's audio sleep diaries were completed and follow up in-depth interviews were undertaken with each partner on an individual basis. Physical and emotional care for young children at night was largely provided by women, with a lack of explicit negotiation between partners about who provides this care, even when women return to employment. Thus, considerably more women than men continued their daytime and evening shifts, as well as undertaking an ongoing third shift of sentient activity for their family, into the night. This resulted in a fourth night-time shift where physical caring, and sentient activities continued. As a consequence, women were more likely to subjugate their own sleep needs to those of their family. Fathers did not, in general, undertake this fourth night-time shift. Those that did were more likely to be the fathers of young adult children who were staying out late at night, with the focus of their concerns being the safety of their children.