Light for Older Eyes

Most people accept that their sight will worsen as they age, but they might not realize it’s more than needing reading glasses at age 40.

"A person aged 55 will typically need twice as much light to see as well as he did at age 20," says Dan Blitzer, continuing educator for the American Lighting Association.

Blitzer points out that people have more trouble with glare from bright light as they get older, so he suggests that instead of using one or two very bright fixtures in a room, use several of medium brightness to spread the light more evenly through-out the room. Lamps should have effective shades to diffuse any glare.