Creating a Dementia-Friendly Environment
Taking the time to create a caring environment can help make life a lot easier for care home residents and those suffering from dementia. A key consideration for the care sector involves creating the right environment for the elderly which is tailored to meet their needs.
With the right colour scheme and design choices, dementia sufferers can experience a much better quality of life.
Dementia-Friendly Colour Choices
Colour can affect people in two ways: physically and emotionally. It can encourage people to become more sociable, encourage eating and can even help people to find their way around.
Aging can lead to a breakdown in vision due to changes in the eye lens, and people with dementia often suffer from vision problems that can include:
- Impaired depth perception
- Altered colour perception
- Spatial disorientation
- Reduced ability to perceive contrasts
The Alzheimer's Society recommends that you minimise "busy patterns on walls and flooring, and try to reduce any changes in floor patterns or surfaces - the person may see such changes as an obstacle or barrier."
People with dementia may also have cataracts, macular degeneration, colour-blindness and glaucoma. Blurred vision and loss of peripheral vision are some of the most serious side effects.
A deliberate use of colours can have a significant impact on the wellbeing of people suffering with dementia:
- Colour helps people to emotionally respond to past experiences.
- It can help to increase and reduce visibility.
- A combination of colour contrast and good lighting can help to improve navigation, mobility and independence.
- Too many colours together can be distracting.
- Bright colours, such as yellow, are highly visible.
- Colour preferences are personal, so personalising private space is important where possible.
Colour Contrast
As the eyes age, or if a person’s sight becomes impaired as a result of dementia, they can lose their ability to notice differences in colours. This is an important safety consideration if someone may have difficulty with depth perception due to similar colours used in both the foreground and background.
We recommend using strong, contrasting colours throughout your interior to help with visibility and safety. Red is considered one of the easiest colours to distinguish, and warmer colours in general are a better choice than cooler colours such as blues and greens when it comes to contrast.
Lighting Considerations for Dementia
Our perception of light also decreases as we age, meaning that we need more light to pass through the cornea to see as well as we used to. Your choice of lighting can help reduce confusion and falls, particularly for people suffering with dementia who may lose familiarity with their surroundings.
As well as letting in more natural light, you should opt for lighting which is bright, even and natural. Consider where you place objects around the space to minimise shadows, reflections and glare as much as possible.
Dementia-Friendly Carpets
At Birch Carpets we have a long history of supplying appropriate carpets to care homes which maximise the comfort and safety of patients.
For older residents, and especially when caring for people suffering with dementia, you should choose plain carpets which offer a strong contrast with your walls and furniture. Avoid heavily patterned carpets or reflective flooring, as this will cause issues with depth perception.
Our range of care home carpets offers a wide choice of colours to suit any environment, and have been specially designed for the sector to include stain-resistant and anti-bacterial properties.
If you’d like further details or a competitive quote on any contract carpet in our range, contact us today to see how we can help.