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The lights in your senior’s home have a huge impact on making sure she’s able to avoid a fall. The thing is, though, you might not realize that her lighting isn’t adequate. You’re going to need to take a closer look at what’s happening with the lighting and how it impacts your elderly family member.
Your Senior’s Eyes May Need More Light
One of the factors that you might be managing here is your senior’s vision. As she ages, your elderly family member’s eyes may start to have trouble discerning objects and edges in lower light. This is often referred to as low vision and there’s no real cure or treatment. It makes seeing much more difficult. Using anti-glare lenses on her glasses and increasing the light in her home can help somewhat.
Shadows Get Worse with Bad Lighting
When the lighting isn’t where it needs to be for your senior’s vision, that creates issues for her that you may not realize are there. Lighting that’s just a little too low or that’s in the wrong spot can create shadows that distort the floor for your elderly family member. These can look like something in the way, which can cause her to lose her footing. Worse, they can obscure actual obstacles, which could cause her to trip over something she doesn’t know is there.
Reflections and Glare Distort Things
Shadows distort items, but so do reflections and glare. If natural or artificial light is bouncing off a mirror, window, or even the glass on a picture frame just wrong, that can be a problem for your elderly family member. Just like shadows, though glare and reflections can hide items that your senior normally knows are right there. This can be a big tripping hazard.
Start out with Smaller Changes
When you start fixing these issues, you might think you need to go big, with lots of lighting and cranking everything up. But the reality is that smaller changes may correct quite a bit without causing disruption. First start looking at how reflections might be affecting things, then consider adding extra lighting and brighter bulbs. It’s way easier to make those small adjustments until you get to a situation that works rather than going overboard from the beginning.
Even with the best lighting, your elderly family member may still have trouble seeing well. It may be a good idea to hire a caregiver to help her wherever necessary.