Housing for the older person

When my mum was in her mid sixties she moved to a small bungalow. My father and stepmother did also at around the same time. My mothers parent's moved to a bungalow when they were around 60. My sister moved to a bungalow before she was fifty.

One of the reasons they chose single-storey living was that 'you don't want stairs when you get older'.

I'm over sixty now, and I've helped Viv cope with stairs when she was in a wheelchair. I'm not convinced that single-storey living is necessarily a good thing for the older person.

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Let me give another example. Viv's Aunty Irene is ninety, and lives alone in a two-bedroom (two-storey) house. There is only one loo, upstairs. Her bedroom is upstairs, she spends most of the day downstairs but goes upstairs when nature calls; she goes up (and down) the flight of stairs perhaps five times a day. 

Compared to my mum and stepmum, who are both a couple of years younger, she is far fitter. She can still walk around the shops (getting a taxi there and back), and just about touch her toes. I'm convinced that the regular climbing of the stairs is part of the reason she is still so healthy: the largest muscles in your body are in your thighs and back, and are used when you get out of a chair, or climb stairs, and working these muscles gets the heart and lungs going just a little, probably enough to keep everything else working well. My stepmum, who not only has no stairs but also has one of those 'riser' chairs that take the effort out of getting out of your chair, she is barely able to walk at all, reliant on support from the walls ('furniture walking') or a wheelchair (pushed by a carer) to get around the shops.

I recall when Viv was ill, the community physio was very nervous about getting Viv even standing, let alone going up and down stairs, but the exercises we did on the stairs built up her legs and strengthened her so that she could then have the treatment that helped to to regain her mobility. There seems to be a view that weaker people shouldn't exercise, and the risks of a fall outweigh the risks of immobility due to lack of exercise. I would recommend that anyone thinking of a bungalow on the grounds that 'they won't be able to manage stairs when they're older' consider it more carefully.

I mentioned my mother's parents earlier: after my grandmother died, my then eighty-year-old grandmother moved to a first floor flat - and used the stairs every day until she moved into a care home, where she had a room on the first floor, also using the stairs every day. She lived to 93.

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There's another reason that a small bungalow may not be suitable for an older person: care. If someone requires care, there are a number of options, broadly split between 'at-home' care or residential (i.e., the person to be cared for moves out of their home). If the individual lives in a small home there will be little space for equipment (hoists, an NHS bed, cleaning and care apparel and the like). A larger property, with a spare room perhaps, is more likely to be suitable for 'at-home' care: moving into a small bungalow might not be the ideal option if you wish to remain in your own home as long as possible.