VO_2peak and 24-hour sleep, sedentary behavior, and physical activity in Australian truck drivers

This study assessed cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and 24-h sleep, sedentary behavior (SB), and physical activity (PA) in Australian truck drivers. Participants (n = 37 men) attended clinic sessions for an exercise test to exhaustion to establish CRF and wore an accelerometer (Actigraph GT3X+) to estimate sleep, SB, and PA. Relative to normative values, CRF was “below percentile 25” in 51% of drivers (mean [SD] VO_2peak=30.1 [7.6] mL.kg-1.min-1). Accelerometer data indicated that total vigorous-intensity (3.5–4.5 min/day) and sustained moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA (>5 min; 0.5–1.6 bouts/day) were limited. The findings show there is a need to design and test PA interventions that can improve poor levels of CRF in truck drivers.