Lighting conditions in the homes of older adults: Are they suitable for healthy ageing in place?

Many people in industrialised countries would prefer to remain in their own homes for as long as possible. Remaining healthy while ageing in place will depend on maintaining suitable indoor environmental quality. This paper reports preliminary results concerning lighting conditions in the homes of older adults in Canada based on an online survey. The results suggest that older adults who spend close to 24 h daily in their homes might not receive the recommended daily light exposure of a minimum of 250 lx melanopic equivalent daylight illuminance from morning until 3 h before bed. Those who spend time outdoors might receive an adequate total exposure if shorter or intermittent very high illuminance exposures are equivalent to long periods at a lower level. Survey participants were generally satisfied with their lighting. Regression analyses revealed small but statistically significant effects of light exposures and satisfaction with lighting on the ease of falling asleep, sleep quality and quality of life. Validation of these survey results with light logger measurements and field measurements of home lighting may lead to recommendations for changes to building codes to enable those who spend much of their time indoors to achieve the target daily light exposures.