Proper rest during the long-time reading on smartphones may be a convenient and effective pevention strategy for DED and asthenopia

Purpose: The study aims to evaluate the effect of proper rest during the long-time smartphone reading on DED and asthenopia. Methods Healthy participants over the age of 18 were randomly allocated to three groups and each individual accepted 2h smartphone reading task. After 1h each group took different rest methods: no rest (group A), eye-closed rest for 10mins (group B), eye-closed joint eye drops rest for 10mins (group C). Before and after the reading task, DED and asthenopia were evaluated by the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), critical flicker frequency (CFF), non-invasive break-up time (NIBUT), fluorescein break-up time (FBUT), corneal fluorescein staining (CFS), and the Schirmer I test (SIT). Results 90 qualified volunteers were recruited, including 29 males and 61 females, aged 22–30 years. After the reading task, all indexes in group A showed the degree of DED and asthenopia were worse than that before reading. Most indexes of DED and asthenopia had no obvious change in group B and group C, especially the CFS results improved (P > 0.05) in group C. Conclusions Our results suggested that taking proper rest during the long-time reading on smartphones may be a convenient and effective prevention strategy for DED and asthenopia.