Residential Lighting Considerations
Residential settings require a distinctly different approach to lighting for day and night use. Flexible lighting designs are important in the public areas of the home in order to accommodate a variety of uses, ranging from entertaining, group meetings where people may need to read, day-to-day living, and housekeeping. If the client is in the 60+ age range, many of their friends will be in that same age group. However, these individuals may not be familiar with the layout of the home. Using contrasting light and dark materials to define the floor and step(s), plus lighting to illuminate the step or level change, will help individuals maneuver safely in and through the space. Often, the lighting design in high-end residential settings is high contrast–dramatic lighting for cocktail parties, however, this ignores the routine visual activities of daily life.
Bedroom and bathroom areas need to be designed with different lighting options for both day and night use. Sleep disorders are a common problem for older people. As a result, many take naps off and on during the day, and use the bedroom for activities besides sleeping, such as resting, watching television, and reading. Ambient and task light are needed for these daytime activities. The room should be dark while sleeping. It is also common for older people to get up during the night to use the bathroom. In this semi-awake/sleep state, eyes are adapted to the dark, so illumination levels of night lighting should be low. A lighted switch near the bed will allow an individual to turn the light on and off as needed. Light sources, which are warm in color and located near the floor, are best for this situation. The goal is to provide just enough light for a person to safely find their way to and from the bathroom, without waking up completely due to exposure from bright light at night.
In all areas, long lamp life is essential. No matter who is responsible for changing the lamps, whether it is the maintenance staff or the older home owner, the replacement of a burned-out lamp may not happen quickly. Keeping seniors off ladders is also a safety issue.
Daylight Exposure
Sleep and activity rhythms are the most common and easily observable circadian rhythm, although core body temperature, appetite, and hormonal secretions are also included. As mentioned, sleep disorders are a problem for older people; in fact only 20 percent report that they have no difficulty with sleep.4 As people age they are less mobile, and as mobility decreases so does their exposure to daylight. Seniors living in the community receive less daylight exposure than younger people, but seniors living in long-term care facilities are the most daylight deprived. Without the necessary exposure to daylight their body clocks desynchronize, resulting in a higher percentage of sleep disorders for older people living in institutional settings than age-matched people living in the community.
Lighting Public Spaces
Retirement provides more leisure time to engage in activities outside the home, including travel, shopping, dining and volunteering. Sixty-five percent of seniors do volunteer work. The lighting in these buildings–daycare centers, grade schools, and medical facilities–should not be the barrier to keep them from enjoying their leisure time, spending their money, or donating their services.
Recently, an unexpected advocate for appropriate lighting has come to the fore. The consequences of visual impairment, i.e. fall-related hip fractures and the associated medical costs, are now attracting the attention of the federal government. United States Surgeon General Richard Carmona, MD, MPH, FACS, lists “improving lighting” along with other recommendations to reduce the anticipated risk of fractures in the 50+ population.5 With the new focus by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on home or community-based senior care, rather than the traditional nursing home or assisted living facility, there is an even greater imperative to design homes appropriately to serve the “Age Wave” that will be cresting soon.
Final Thought
To serve an older population, the design community must create lighting schemes based on perceptions other than our own. Design for the “optimum” condition rather than the “minimum”, and include health factors along with traditional lighting objectives. In particular, the standard practices of residential lighting design needs to change today to meet the requirements of the current aging population. Soon enough we will join the ranks of the 65+ and become dependent upon younger people to understand our needs. How can we expect others to address these lighting deficiencies if we do not address them ourselves and take the necessary steps, today, to remedy them?
Eunice Noell-Waggoner is President of the Center of Design for an Aging Society, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the built environment to maximize abilities of older people. The Center recently developed and published “Lighting Your Way to Better Vision,” an informational booklet for the general public. She is also the founding chair and a current member of the Lighting for Aging and Partially Sighted Committee of the IESNA.
Footnotes
1Dychtwald K, Flower J. Age Wave–The Challenges and Opportunities of an Aging America. New York: J.P. Tarcher, 1988.
2U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Press Office. “By 2002, One in Two Americans Over Age 50 will be at Risk for Fractures from Osteoporosis or Low Bone Mass”. News Release. October 14, 2004.
3Brainard GC, Hanifin JP, Greeson JM, Byrne B, Glickman G, Gerner E, and Rollag MD. “Action Spectrum for Melatonin Regulation in Humans: Evidence for a Novel Circadian Photoreceptor,” J. Neurosci. 21 (2001) 6405-6412.
4Chen, CK, Sloane, PD, Dalton, MT, Sheps, CG. “Lighting and Circadian Rhythm and Sleep in Older Adults: Technical Memorandum #1007708.” Palo Alto, CA: EPRI; New York: IESNA; Solon, OH: Venture Lighting International, 2003.
5See footnote 2. Ibid.