Tell me the moon is made of cheese and there is a chance I might believe you. Tell me the moon is made of cheese and you got a little taste while doing your extensive research and I’d probably believe you. After all, you objectively tested a hypothesis, right? Almost…

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A research study published in wonderful book concluded that those of us who are seeking peak performance, need to be fully alert, dynamic, energetic, in a good mood, and cognitively sharp. This applies to performance in exams, work, sports, music, or anything that requires concentration. Agreed…

The book claimed that the ultimate path to peak performance is quality sleep. Wonderful…

How much sleep do you think you need to function well? According to this research, you need nine hours and fifteen minutes.  Yes, please don’t wake up before finishing the fifteen minutes. Needless to say, I loved the idea. Good excuse for a good cause and good purpose (نوم الظالم عبادة). Deep inside me, I wanted this to work, so it worked; improved class performance (measureable), better mood (perceived), more energy (perceived) and reasonable appetite (measureable).

Luckily, I had a chance to ask the researcher a question just to out of curiosity. My question was that in Islamic history, we learned about the Prophet’s companions who used to sleep, pray and then go back to sleep. How do you compare that to your proposed solution? If you think about it, they were cognitively sharp given that they learned the revelation, memorized it along with the Prophet’s traditions and founded one of the largest religions! So, what’s the missing piece in your research? Interesting huh?

Let’s just say if I were a researcher, I’d have been a bit more enthusiastic to explore this option. That is if I don’t have the same default egoistic thinking, my way or the highway. The researcher immediately dismissed my question: this cannot be true, end of discussion.

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Now that I know that even objective studies might have a glimpse of blind belief or self-interest, next time you tell me the moon is made of cheese and I’ll ask you to let me taste it, then I may or may not believe you.