Is healthy sleep possible for professional firefighters? A comparison of "On-Duty" and "Off-Duty" sleep

Healthy sleep is vital for firefighter safety, health, wellness, and for public well-being. However, professional firefighters experience disturbed sleep at disproportionately high rates. The current study investigated firefighter sleep in terms of (1) differences in on-duty and off-duty sleep, (2) risk factors for poor sleep, and (3) whether risk factors differed for on-duty and off-duty sleep.

Professional firefighters from a large, urban fire department in central Virginia (N = 268) reported their sleep using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index both on- and off-duty. Participants also provided information related to demographic characteristics, work (e.g., length of service), general health (self-rated health and pain), and mental health (Patient Health Questionnaire-2 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-2).

Using a repeated measures MANOVA, on-duty sleep was significantly worse compared to off-duty sleep F(8250) = 40.80, p<.001, η² = .57. On-duty, 84% of firefighters were classified as poor sleepers compared to 53.4% off-duty. Significant associations were observed between work-related factors, health-related factors, and mental health-related factors and on-duty and off-duty sleep; however, the strength of associations was generally greater for on-duty sleep.

Healthy sleep is possible for professional firefighters, as nearly half were classified as "good sleepers" while off-duty. Nonetheless, on-duty sleep was significantly worse overall, and risk factors for poor sleep showed stronger associations with on-duty sleep than off-duty sleep. When working a 24-hour variable shift schedule, it appears that poor sleep may "carryover" from on-duty to off-duty days. Further research is needed to test behavioral and environmental approaches to promote healthy sleep among professional firefighters.