Effects of donepezil (Aricept) on the rapid eye movement sleep of normal subjects

Donepezil (Aricept) is a therapeutic drug for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, there have been only two reports describing the effects of donepezil on sleep as assessed by nocturnal polysomnography (PSG). With this in mind, the effects of donepezil on the sleep of healthy subjects was evaluated using PSG. The results indicated that the percentage of rapid eye movement sleep to total sleep time was increased significantly by a single dose of 5 mg of donepezil when given to healthy subjects immediately before retiring to bed.