Predictors of psychomotor vigilance improvement after a 6-day recovery period in firefighters

This study investigated predictors of psychomotor vigilance recovery across a six-day inter-tour rest period separating two consecutive duty tours in a sample of career firefighters. Thirty-five firefighters [M age: 38 yrs (SD = 9.2 yrs)] took psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) tests at the beginning of a six-day recovery period and after beginning their next tour; each tour consisted of five, non-consecutive, 24-hour shifts. During the recovery period, subjects wore a wrist-worn actigraph (Actiwatch-2) and completed a sleep diary. Mixed analysis of covariance was employed to test whether change in psychomotor vigilance occurred as a function of time and recovery sleep. Results indicated that firefighters with longer sleep periods during recovery had relatively stable psychomotor vigilance at both testing time points. In contrast, firefighters with shorter recovery sleep periods had worse psychomotor vigilance at the end of the tour, followed by substantial improvement after the recovery interval. Significant improvements in number of lapses, mean reciprocal reaction time, median reaction time, fastest 10% reaction times, and slowest 10% reaction times were observed across both groups. These findings underscore the restorative impact of off-duty recovery sleep on attentional performance in firefighters.