Sedentary behavior and activity patterns in Swedish log truck drivers - a descriptive cross-sectional study

Professional drivers spend a significant amount of their worktime sedentary and generally have a high prevalence overweight or obesity, musculoskeletal pain and poor health. Sedentary time has been linked to several health outcomes, and there are international guidelines for weekly physical activity. The aim of this study was to investigate the activity pattern for Swedish log truck drivers during work and leisure time.

Log truck drivers were recruited from four companies in northern Sweden between April and October 2023. Time spent in various physical activities was measured during workdays and non-workdays over a consecutive week using an AX6 accelerometer, combined with a worktime diary and a survey including questions regarding age, height, weight, health, pain, and exercise habits. Accelerometry data were processed through the ActiPass software. Patterns for sedentary behavior and physical activities were presented descriptively and compared to the guidelines.

Participants spent a majority of both their workdays and non-workdays sedentary (77.3% and 66.6%, respectively), and on average, 5.5% of their time was spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). The time spent in MVPA, however, differed substantially depending on the bout time, and few individuals reached the recommendations, even with short bout cut-offs. Participants slept 6.4 h (SD 1.8) on workdays and 8.6 h (SD 1.8) on non-workdays.

Sedentary behavior and lack of physical activity are prevalent in log truck drivers, and most of them do not reach the recommendations of weekly physical activity. Sleep duration was below recommendations on many workdays.