Healthy ageing - Design criteria for the indoor environment for vital elderly

It's well known fact cognitive functions are decreasing when people are getting closer to their senior age. Researchers from Dutch university therefore conducted a study to find out the best living conditions for seniors, because they can be quite different from the conditions of younger people.
Several scientific studies show that the indoor environment affects alertness and cognitive performance of people (Wargocki and Wyon 2006; Fang, Wyon, Clausen, and Fanger 2004; De Gids et al. 2007; Kretschmer, Griefahn, and Schmidt 2011; Galván, Vessal, and Golley 2013). The study came to not so surprising conclusions, but it's interesting to think about cognitive performance throughout the life and the possible effect on the preferences and needs of seniors towards their homes/living environment. This may be for example the case of light need (when you're 25 years old, you need roughly 5 times less the illumination your 75 year old grandfather does) or thermal conditions in the room. Here are some of the thoughts from the study:

"To increase the wellbeing for vital elderly, the design criteria for the indoor environment should be changed because research shows that older and younger people, even in the same environment, respond differently to the indoor environment. The built environment strongly affects the working, learning, health, care and healing process, the support of older people and the reducing of errors, accidents, inconvenience and the (feeling of) insecurity. older people have a lower tolerance for uncomfortable situations than young people.
To which extent a built environment, according to, for example, the healing environment principle, is of influence on the health and the performance of older people and health care professionals is not yet to answer. For that more research is needed than is considered within the framework of this study. However, build with care for health offers the possibility to:
- reduce the chance of disease and (the feeling of) insecurity,
- stimulate physical and mental activity,
- offer support in the daily work and life operations.

After the above, it is obvious that older people have a lower tolerance for uncomfortable situations than young people. The built environment strongly affects the working, learning, health, care and healing process, the support of older people and the reducing of errors, accidents, inconvenience and the (feeling of) insecurity. The built environment with smart technology, is to arrange things in such a way that people are inspired, become more active, learn better and are less likely to get sick and be uncertain and heal faster, receive faster aid and are less likely to fall victim to accidents and are facilitated in a better manner in their activities. The largest cost for healthcare institutions is salaries and costs for delivering care. Investments in buildings are only a small part of the total cost. Investments in a healthy built environment bring several benefits."


Source:

Roelofsen, P. 2014. Healthy ageing - Design criteria for the indoor environment for vital elderly. Intelligent Buildings International [online]. 2014-01-02, vol. 6, issue 1, s. 11-25 [cit. 2014-06-24]. DOI: 10.1080/17508975.2013.830589. Retrieved from: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508975.2013.830589

Turner, P. L., E. J. Van Someren, and M. A. Mainster. 2010. The Role of Environmental Light in Sleep and Health: Effects of Ocular Aging and Cataract Surgery. Sleep Medicine Reviews 14: 269–280.