Lighting the Way for Dementia at Home
The way we organize our home affects how we are able to live within it. There are different ways and we each have our own preferences when it comes to decoration and design. It is very interesting how sometimes minor adjustments can often lead to major changes. One of those adjustments can be the lighting within the home.
Lighting within our home helps us navigate and walk around without bumping into furniture, walls and even other people. When we are looking for something it is usually easier to do so when there is light in the room as well. Lighting has many benefits, and those benefits also apply to people who are living with dementia or cognitive changes. According to Waterhouse and associates (2022) their research suggest that using windows and natural light not only creates an overall positive experience but also increases one's sense of comfort. Additionally, they noted that a home that is well lit has been found to improve appetite, wayfinding or knowing how to find one's way around their home, and also reduces falls and overall confusion behaviors. If you are planning to make the adjustments on changing and improving lighting within your home, there are some things to consider.
Glare
It is important to consider glare and how that may affect our loved ones. If someone has certain eye conditions glare can actually make one's ability to see around their home harder. Additionally, use of a window is great for our loved ones who may be limited to a chair or even their bed, but it is important to consider their comfort.
Perception
Certain surfaces may cause light to reflect and alter how the room or furniture look. When floors are really shiny sometimes they can be perceived to be wet or slippery even if they are not which may lead our loved ones to become hesitant or fearful when walking on those surfaces. This can also affect countertops or other surfaces as well.
Lighting Type
Lighting is very important, and there are different types of lights such as natural light, the warmer yellow lights, and the brighter white light for the home. White light can help with wayfinding and vision but may lessen the warmth and delay the sleeping process due to being a strong light source, especially at night. Natural light is a really healthy form of lighting within the home but is only available for a certain part of the day and may be limited by your view for those living in apartments or homes with limited windows. Yellow lighting can be warm and comforting but potentially lead to more shadows and difficulty navigating around the home.
When looking around your home, think about how your lighting affects yourself and your loved one. Do they have trouble seeing around the room? Are they fearful of the shadows within the home? Do they make remarks about the floor or countertops being wet? Making adjustments to how your home is lit can help overcome some of these challenges.
Waterhouse, J., Premier, A., & Boarin, P. (2022). Visual environments for people living with dementia: a review of building performance criteria. Architectural Science Association, 55, 610–619.
