Falls at night: making the path from bed to bathroom safer

A walk-through you can do tonight, in about 20 minutes. It follows the advice of the CDC and the National Institute on Aging. It is also honest about what that advice can't promise.

Written by the Liacare team · Sources checked Sept. 21, 2026 · 10 sources, linked below · Not yet reviewed by a clinician · How we check facts

Most families think about stairs and showers. The trip people forget is the ordinary one: out of bed, half-awake, in the dark, to the bathroom and back. When researchers at the CDC looked at falls that sent people 65 and older to the emergency room, about four in five had happened at home, and the most common places were the bedroom, the bathroom and the stairs.⁷

1 Walk the route yourself, at night

Do it the way she does: lights off, starting from her side of the bed. Notice what your foot touches first. Notice where the first light switch is, and whether you can reach it lying down. Look for rug edges, cords, a pet bed, the laundry basket, the raised strip in the bathroom doorway.

Do this first. Everything below is easier once you have seen the route the way she sees it.

2 Light the route

The CDC's home checklist asks two questions about the bedroom: is the light near the bed hard to reach, and is the path from the bed to the bathroom dark? Its fixes are simple: “Place a lamp close to the bed where it's easy to reach,” and “Put in a nightlight so you can see where you're walking.”¹ The National Institute on Aging adds a light left on in the bathroom, or a night-light that comes on by itself in the dark, and a flashlight by the bed in case the power goes out.²

• A lamp or switch she can reach without sitting up.
• Plug-in night-lights with a dusk sensor: one near the bed, one in the hall, one in the bathroom.
• A low, warm light is enough. The goal is to see the floor, not to wake up.

3 Stand up in stages

Blood pressure can drop when a person stands up quickly, and that brings dizziness. The CDC's advice is to get up in stages: sit up, sit on the side of the bed for a moment, then stand.³ If she often feels dizzy or light-headed when she stands, that is worth telling her doctor. It is common, and it can often be helped.

4 Clear and fix the floor

For throw rugs the CDC is blunt: “Remove the rugs, or use double-sided tape or non-slip backing.” For cords: coil or tape them next to the wall.¹ Then move anything that lives on the route somewhere else: shoes, a magazine rack, the scale in the bathroom doorway.

5 Shorten the trip

The CDC's Stay Independent brochure says it plainly: “Rushing to the bathroom, especially at night, increases your chance of falling.”⁴ A review of nine observational studies found that people who get up at night to urinate fall somewhat more often, about 20% more, though studies like these cannot prove that one causes the other.⁵

Two things follow. First, frequent night trips are worth raising with her doctor; they often have causes that can be treated. Second, some people choose a bedside commode or urinal for the night. That is her choice to make, not something to impose. Please don't cut back her drinking without asking the doctor.

6 Something on her feet

The CDC's footwear guide advises against walking around in socks alone, and against backless shoes, smooth soles and worn-out soles. Safer shoes have a firm heel, a textured sole, and laces or straps that hold the shoe on the foot.⁶ For the night route that means house shoes with a closed heel and a grippy sole, parked where her feet land when she sits up.

7 A way to call for help from the floor

Ask one question in each room on the route: if she were on the floor here, how would anyone know? The National Institute on Aging suggests a phone near the bed,² and notes that carrying a phone around the house makes it easier to call for help.¹⁰ A help button works too, if she is willing to wear it at night and in the bathroom, which many people are not. Whatever you choose, test it from the floor, not from a chair.