• Millennium Tower is a skyscraper in San Francisco that is sinking and leaning.
• Though the building is safe to occupy, an investigation found that gaps in the walls may present risks in the event of a fire.
• San Francisco city building inspectors have issued a violation notice against Millennium Tower, prompting it to provide a fix.

San Francisco city building inspectors have issued a violation notice against Millennium Tower, the city's leaning, sinking luxury skyscraper, because of an apparent fire safety risk.

The December 2017 notice cites "a breach in the fire and smoke barrier" and other evidence that suggests "the issue may be more widespread," NBC Bay Area reported on Thursday.

Millennium Tower is a luxury residential high-rise that has sunk 17 inches and tilted 14 inches since it was completed in 2008. Though an inspection by the city found it's safe to occupy, the situation has sparked a flurry of lawsuits and an exodus from the building by many residents.

Last year, a report commissioned by the Millennium Homeowners Association warned there may be unseen safety issues at the building. Architectural engineering firm, Allana, Buick and Bers, had found gaps in the walls of one unit that could present risks in the event of a fire.

Paula Pretlow and several other homeowners had complained of unexplained odors permeating their luxury units. Consultants from Allana, Buick and Bers burrowed holes through several apartment walls in Pretlow's unit and set off smoke bombs below. They found that smoke rose through openings surrounding pipes and ducts in the walls. Typically, gaps like these are sealed with fire-resistant caulking to make sure fires are contained on the floor where they start.

If a small fire was to break out in the unit below where Pretlow lives, the flames could more easily spread to her condo or cause smoke damage in the walls, according to NBC Bay Area.

The report only pertained to the unit owned by Pretlow, though others could be susceptible.

Since the report, the tower's developer and city building inspectors have not addressed the fire safety warning. But an investigation from NBC Bay Area provided new details from the report in December, which appears to have prompted action. (NBC Bay Area found that some information was redacted from the report provided to homeowners.)

The violation notice forces the developer, Millennium Partners, to either find a different expert who can show the building is fire-safe, or provide a fix. It has until January 19 to respond.

The situation at Millennium Tower is likely to get worse before it gets better. Engineers have estimated the building will continue to sink at a rate of about one-inch per year.

SEE ALSO: The situation at San Francisco's sinking skyscraper is so dire, residents are selling their condos at a loss of millions

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NOW WATCH: THE TESLA ROAD TRIP — Watch as things get off to a rocky start and we have to call for help

Back in August, my colleague in New York Dennis Green visited London, and found using the Tube — much to the dismay of many Londoners — a generally positive experience, especially compared to the subway back in New York.

Broadly speaking, I agreed with Dennis. For one, the New York Subway is in a dire state.

I visited the Big Apple in November and experienced delays, trains randomly stopping, and solid human waste on platforms (not a joke!)

I also agreed that the London Underground is a pretty awesome piece of infrastructure, especially considering its age.

But my perspective on the Underground changed after I visited Hong Kong. A four day holiday to the city-state has completely changed what I think a good mass transit system looks like.

Hong Kong’s subway system, the Mass Transit Railway (MTR), is without a doubt the smoothest, easiest, and pleasantest public transport experience I have ever used. It makes the London Underground look like a creaking, dirty, inefficient mess of a transit system.

I used the MTR frequently during my time in Hong Kong, both for short journeys in and around town and for longer trips out of the city. Here's what distinguished it from the Tube.

The first thing you notice? Just how clean everything is.

Sure, the Tube isn’t exactly a cesspit of filth, but it’s hardly gleaming either. Take an underground train during the day and you’ll likely be confronted with numerous discarded copies of the Metro and City AM. By night, you'll encounter empty chip packets and spilled cans of cheap lager.

By contrast, the MTR was absolutely spotless every time I used it. I rode the train early in the morning, during the day, at rush hour, and even after midnight on New Year’s Eve. Not once did I see any litter or dirt of any sort.

No need to worry about invisible germs on everything either.

The MTR even applies a special anti-bacterial coating to handrails and escalators to cut down on spreading germs. Hong Kong in general is super conscious of germs after a deadly outbreak of the respiratory disease SARS killed almost 200 people in the early 2000s.

Another plus for MTR: It's super cheap.

When it comes to prices, Hong Kong is a city of contrasts. You can easily grab a delicious, authentic dinner for the equivalent of about £5 in a local restaurant, then move to an expat bar and spend £10 on a single beer.

One thing that is very cheap, however, is the MTR. A single ticket between two stops in the centre of the city generally costs roughly HK$13, which is equivalent to about £1.30. By contrast, a single fare in Zone 1 on the Underground bought on the day is £4.90, while an Oyster fare is £2.40.

Hong Kong’s Octopus card, the equivalent of an Oyster card, is even cheaper, running at about HK$9 (£0.90). For such a clean, efficient service, that is incredibly good value.

• Business Insider UK spoke to BBC One's "Doctor in the House" Rangan Chatterjee.
• He explained why sitting at a desk all day can be detrimental to our health. 
• Doctor Rangan Chatterjee offered three tips on how to improve your health if you are sat behind a desk all day. 

Full transcript below.

Rangan Chatterjee: Many of us are spending much of our day sitting down and that can have some seriously negative health consequences.

In fact many of us think that we can go to the gym in the evening and outdo all that sitting in the day but recent studies have shown that we can’t.

Now I’m not saying that you shouldn’t go to the gym, that can be incredibly beneficial, but actually we need to find ways that we can sit down less in the day.

Now that can be incredibly hard. If you work at home at a laptop or even if you’re working in an office, it can just be very easy to sit at your desk and not get up.

So I’ve got a few strategies that you might want to adopt to help you. The first thing is you can put an alarm on your phone, use technology to help you, so every hour a little buzzer goes off that forces you and reminds you to get up.

Even just get up, go for a walk, go to the drinks fountain and actually get a drink of water. That can be incredibly useful and it’s just a simple way of actually getting up regularly.

The second tip would actually be to drink more water. Not only is that beneficial for most of us in terms of our health but actually, you end up having to get up and pee every hour so that gets you up out of your chair as well; a simple tip with two benefits.

The third tip I talk about is having a little “movement snack” in the day. I talk about these a lot, little bitesize movement snacks that you do with other people.

So if you work in an office, I have a little thing called the two-minute office workout, where you can actually do some tricep dips against your desk, some press-ups against your desk and actually do some lunges with your partner where you give a high-five on each lunge.

It only takes about a minute and it can be incredibly fun. In fact, you don’t need to stick to that. You can make it up, but the point is, if you get up and move then you feel better, you have more energy and you’re more productive at work.

It’s not as hard as you think it is. Why don’t you ask one of your work colleagues and see if they’re up for it with you.

The other tip would be to get up out of your chair at every possible opportunity. So if you have someone in your office, consider do you need to send an email to them or can you get up out of your chair and go and speak to them in person?

We’re sat all morning at our computer, we’re sat at lunchtime at our desk eating and surfing the net, and then we’re sat there in the afternoon.

A very simple thing is to go for a ten-minute walk every lunchtime. It’s not that hard and if you start doing it regularly, it very quickly becomes easier, it becomes a new habit and these new habits become your new health.

Produced and filmed by Jasper Pickering. Research by Fraser Moore. 

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While both Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle can, at times, dress within a more affordable price-range— some occasions call for the higher-end stuff.

Last year, Middleton reportedly spent more on her wardrobe than ever before — and now Markle has followed suit, wearing a $75,000 dress in her official engagement photos with Prince Harry, and a $9,638 outfit to the royal family's official Christmas celebration.

Ahead, a look at Middleton's best, and most expensive, outfits from 2017 — ranked from least to most expensive.

SEE ALSO: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry travel the world on commercial flights — here are her most notable adventures

While visiting the German Cancer Research Institute, Middleton wore a Jenny Packham dress paired with a a Russell & Bromley handbag — totaling $1,424.

At the National Portrait Gallery gala in March, Middleton wore a $1,740 outfit.

This white dress, by Polish designer Gosia Baczynska, was part of a $1,950 outfit.

When Amazon chose downtown Seattle for its massive urban campus, John Schoettler, Amazon's vice president of global real estate, wanted to create a thriving "18-hour" neighborhood.

To some extent, Amazon has succeeded. In a decade, nonstop development has transformed Seattle's South Lake Union and Denny Triangle from a sea of parking lots, car rental agencies, motels, and warehouses to gleaming office towers and luxury real estate. 

Restaurants, gyms, cafès, and even medical clinics have moved in, drawn by Amazon's ever-expanding workforce and the promise of high-salaried residents due to move into the thousands of newly-built luxury apartments. 

But for many of the neighborhood's new businesses, things haven't turned out exactly like they hoped. For one, they can't get customers in during non-work hours, at dinnertime and on weekends.

"The worst thing is having an empty restaurant and then trying to keep your staff motivated and energized," local restaurateur and chef Josh Henderson told Marketplace.

On a recent visit to Seattle, we checked out the so-called "18-hour" neighborhood.

SEE ALSO: One photo tells you everything you need to know about Amazon's relationship to Seattle

DON'T MISS: One walk through Seattle's 'Amazonia' neighborhood made me very uneasy for whatever city gets HQ2

Over the last decade, Amazon has transformed South Lake Union and its surrounding areas, Belltown and Denny Triangle. Each of those pins on the map is an Amazon office.

Amazon has nearly 40,000 employees in Seattle, with plans to grow to 55,000 in the near future. Amazonians are everywhere downtown.

Amazon's offices are spread across more than 33 buildings and 13.6 million square feet of office space in the area. This is Day 1 Tower, one of four towers that will form the heart of Amazon's urban campus by the time its completed.

Sources: GeekWire,SF Gate, CNBC 

• Iran recently erupted in country-wide protests.
• Anti-government protestors turned to the same target: the wealthy elite.
• Iranian millennials hardly keep their wealth a secret, especially in the age of social media.

Iran recently erupted in country-wide protests that brought out both anti- and pro-government forces.

The demonstrators in Iran mobilized against everything from the government to the economic woes of the country. Gradually, across the country, anti-government protestors turned to the same target: a wealthy elite that has reaped the benefits of a top-down theocratic regime.

At least a part of this seems to have been spurred by a new openness from Iranian millennials, who hardly keep their wealth a secret, especially in the age of social media.

As Iranian journalist Amir Ahmadi Arian puts it in an op-ed for the New York Times, "Wealthy young Iranians act like a new aristocratic class unaware of the sources of their wealth."

"They brazenly drive Porsches and Maseratis through the streets of Tehran before the eyes of the poor and post about their wealth on Instagram," Arian writes.

The inequalities majority of the protestors face has been building up for the past decade, and seemed to finally reached a breaking point, especially after President Hassan Rouhaniintroduced an austerity budget.

While the working class protesters have shouted "Death to Rouhani" and "Death to the dictator," the Rich Kids of Tehran Twitter account has been very supportive of Rouhani and the Iranian government in the past.

Check out some of the rich kids of Iran that have become a driving force for the protests:

SEE ALSO: The protests in Iran appear to be dying down — but they're a sign the regime is getting weaker

SEE ALSO: The 10 biggest risks the world faces in 2018

The wealthy of Iran have no problem flaunting their money around.

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Many photos prominently feature gifts that are usually expensive cars.

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Followed up by photos of kids taking those cars out for a drive.

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• We interviewed four couples in which both partners are relationship experts about their best marriage advice.
• Common themes emerged, including: Stay curious about your partner, and know the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
• Ultimately, marriage is hard for everyone, but there are some time-tested tricks to make it easier.

There's a curious trend among relationship experts: Many of them are married. To each other.

When I first realized this, it sounded to me like the makings of either heaven or hell.

Case for heaven: No one ever name-calls, or violates their partner's trust, or shuts down emotionally because you both know those are counterproductive behaviors. Case for hell: You can't storm off like a child during an argument about chores because you just counseled a client not to do that this morning.

Curious to know which way the pendulum swings, I called up four married couples in which both partners are relationship experts and asked whether and how they practice what they preach.

In the four conversations, I heard some common themes about the conflicts that have played out in their marriages and how they've used their knowledge of successful relationships to resolve them.

Read on to find out how the pros do marriage — and what can you learn from them.

SEE ALSO: A relationship therapist breaks down the 10 most common fights couples have

They know how to be interdependent

Suzann Pileggi Pawelski and James Pawelski, PhD co-wrote the forthcoming book "Happy Together," in which they apply insights from positive psychology to romantic relationships. Pileggi Pawelski's background is in journalism; Pawelski is a philosopher. Both had been successful in their individual careers, but their approaches to research and writing were starkly different.

Pawelski talked about the importance of "interdependence," which he acknowledged "could be a challenge." At one point, Pileggi Pawelski showed her husband a draft of a chapter she'd written. Pawelski thought they could do better.

Seeing how much energy she'd put into the drafts, Pawelski told me, "I had a choice of saying, 'OK, these drafts are good; we can just kind of tweak them a little bit and then we're good to go.' Or, I could say to her, 'Honestly, I think we need to take them apart and put them back together again and I think they'll be better."

Ultimately, Pawelski gave his wife "some time to think it through more," and she realized the draft could in fact use some revision. Interdependence, Pawelski said, is about standing up for your perspective and also being willing to yield a little to the other person's perspective.

They know the 'why'

Peter Pearson, PhD and Ellyn Bader, PhD run the Couples Institute in Menlo Park, California. Pearson told me one of their biggest points of friction is that he has a "higher tolerance for visual disarray when it comes to clutter, much higher than Ellyn."

Most of the time, Pearson said, he's more conscious of the amount of clutter around and does something about it.

"There's a bigger picture of what we want to create in our relationship," he said, "and having a clutter-free environment helps us both. So it's the why. … Why would I be interested in putting forth the effort of less clutter? Why would Ellyn be interested in relaxing her standards?"

The "why" varies from couple to couple, Pearson said. It's about what you want to create more of as a twosome, whether that's peace, happiness, or personal fulfillment.

They listen with curiosity

Every couple I interviewed mentioned something about staying curious — during conflict and in general.

Carrie Cole, MEd, LPC, and Don Cole, DMin, LPC-S, LMFT-S, who are the research director and clinical director, respectively, at the Gottman Institute, shared something similar. Recently, Carrie was visibly upset with Don because she'd asked him a question and he'd blown her off. Instead of getting defensive, Carrie said, Don got curious.

He asked questions like, "Why did that bother you so badly?" and was willing to listen to the answer. Carrie told me it's about feeling validated. "For somebody to say, 'Tell me more about that' and 'Where does that come from for you? What's your history around that?' That really soothes me."

Julie Schwartz Gottman, PhD, president and cofounder at the Gottman Institute, said her husband, John Gottman, PhD, cofounder at the Gottman Institute, adopted a relationship-strengthening strategy directly from their own research.

"If I was really upset about something or making a complaint about a behavior of his," she said, "rather than going defensive, he would say, 'What do you need? Honey, what do you need?' And immediately all the tension would met away. The anger would melt away. It was a balm to my soul."

Why? "Because John recognized that when I was upset about something, first of all my feelings were valid," she said. "He loved me and my feelings mattered," plus he showed a willingness to help ease her distress.

• Wawa and Sheetz are both convenience store chains with a cult following. 
• We visited both to see which was better.
• After the face-off, Wawa reigned supreme for offering food that's worth a trip in itself.

The Capulets versus the Montagues.

Harvard versus Yale.

Britney versus Christina.

Among history's fabled rivalries, perhaps none is more fiercely contested than Wawa versus Sheetz.

In Pennsylvania and the surrounding states where these premium gas stations dominate highway pit stops, everyone has an opinion as to which is the convenience chain of choice.

To definitively settle this schism, we took it upon ourselves to journey to the heartland of the two rivals — the borderlands of Pennsylvania and New Jersey — and see which chain reigns supreme.

SEE ALSO: We ate dozens of meals at restaurant chains in 2017 — here are the 9 absolute best things to try right now

Our quest begins in the parking lot of a Wawa in south Phillipsburg, New Jersey, off Route 22. The gas pumps are plentiful and bustling with activity, but we're more interested in what's inside.

Wawa, with more than 720 locations in six states on the East Coast, is renowned for its high-quality yet inexpensive food. Walking inside, we find the vibe to be clean and professional yet unassuming. Muted yellows and browns are the key colors, leading to a relaxed but often bland visual landscape.

It takes a few minutes to even comprehend the array of food options available at Wawa. The well-stocked prepackaged section is ambitious and diverse in scope. Even packaged food appears fresh — not as though it has been abandoned on the shelf for untold lengths.

• About 80% of people fail to stick to their New Year's resolutions for longer than six weeks.
• Most resolutions involve trying to be healthier in some way.
• Psychological reasons we don't succeed include overthinking how arduous our resolutions will be, and leaving ourselves mental get-out clauses.

It's a new year, and many people will be wanted to turn over a new leaf. That's what New Year's resolutions are for — to make improvements to our lives in some way.

But they are really hard to stick to. In fact, according to one statistic, 80% of us will fail by the second week of February. A valiant effort.

A study from 2016 published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, a scientific journal, investigated New Year's resolutions, and found that 55% of resolutions were health related, such as exercising more, or eating healthier. About 20% were to do with getting out of debt.

These are tricky things to do at any time of the year, let alone in the month after the holidays.

The study, led by Kaitlin Woolley from Cornell University and Ayelet Fishbach from the University of Chicago, found that participants believe that both enjoyment and importance are significant factors in whether they stick to their resolutions.

In fact, the researchers found that it was just the enjoyment factor was the only thing that mattered.

In other words, if the participants were getting immediate rewards from their new habits, they would be more likely to stick to them.

Another study, published in the Journal of Nature and Science, looked into why we are so bad at sticking to health-related goals.

It points out that only a fifth of us get the recommended amount of exercise, despite the fact we are always being told how a healthier lifestyle can lengthen our lives.

According to the author Seppo Iso-Ahola a professor in the department of kinesiology at the University of Maryland, the problem lies with the internal battle between doing what you want to do, and what you should do.

If you can stop yourself overthinking how awful it will be to have a salad for dinner, or to go on a run after work, you might just have a better chance of going through with it.

Last week, the Metro reported that one little word is what's holding many of us back from actually achieving our new year goals.

In her book "How to Get Sh*t Done," lifestyle coach Erin Falconer says using the word "should" is a bad idea, because it is often associated with guilt, shame and an "absence of decision."

But it also implies that whatever you are planning is a possibility, not a reality. In other words, you're giving yourself an excuse simply by saying you "should" do something, rather than you "will" do something.

So to keep yourself focused, stay away from non-committal words, try not getting yourself worried about your healthy decisions, and try and frame them in a way that you think you'll enjoy.

If it doesn't work, don't worry. There's always next year.

SEE ALSO: Two thirds of us worry about our partner's health more than our own — these are our 10 top concerns

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: TONY ROBBINS: 'Trading your expectations for appreciation' will make you more attractive

• There are a number of things you should know before starting to collect air miles.
• The best place to start is by choosing one of the three main alliances and flying only with their partners.
• You can also get a co-branded credit card, open a checking account, and book hotels and car rentals through your frequent flyer platform.

The world of air miles can seem incredibly complicated to those on those outside — but the upgrades and lounge access certainly have their appeal.

Luckily, the experts from travel search platform HolidayPirates have put together a guide on how to to do things right.

Here are 4 things you need to know before you start collecting air miles...

1. You won't get enough miles for a free flight just by flying.

Unless you're a really frequent traveller, that is. "However, the good news is that there are ways to collect a large number of miles, without even stepping onto a plane," according to HolidayPirates.

2. Most airlines belong to three main alliances.

"Each airline has its own frequent flyer programme, but once you settle on one, you can collect with all the members (airlines and others) of the alliance for your chosen one," HolidayPirates explained.

Here are the main ones:

Star Alliance: The biggest one, with 28 airlines including Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Swiss, Brussels Airlines, United, All Nippon Airways, Air China, Lot, SAS, and Air New Zealand.

SkyTeam: Works with 20 airlines such as Air France/KLM, Delta, China Southern, China Eastern, Aerolineas Argentinas, and Aeromexico.

Oneworld: The smallest alliance of the three, with only 14 airlines. Members include British Airways, Iberia, American Airlines, Qantas, Latam, airberlin, and Japan Airlines.

3. There's a difference between 'status miles' and 'award miles'

There’s a big difference between status miles and award miles.

"Status miles can only be collected by actually flying with a certain airline — once you have achieved a certain status, you can use advantages such as fast lane, business check-in, access to the lounge, additional luggage, and much more," according to HolidayPirates, who added that this status typically expires after a year.

"In contrast, award miles can be used to get free flights or upgrades and generally expire after 12 to 36 months — sometimes they have no expiration date — depending on the chosen frequent flyer program. You can collect award miles by flying with the airline, but also by using partner offers such as credit cards, hotel stays or car rentals.

"You can normally find a full list of the partners on the frequent flyer programme's website."

4. If you earn a 'free flight,' you won't always be able to choose the destination

"Most of the time, you will have to pick a destination out of a small list of offered flights."

...And here's exactly what you need to do to start collecting:

1. Fly only with alliance partners.

Once you have decided on a frequent flyer program with a certain airline, try to find out which other airlines are part of your chosen alliance and ensure that where possible, you book flights with these airlines.

"The amount of miles you can receive will depend on the distance to your destination and your booking class (economy or business)," HolidayPirates said.

"It’s more likely that you will receive a higher amount of miles when you book at a more expensive rate, or when you are flying greater distances.

"Remember that the distance isn’t calculated by the physical distance travelled, but by the direct way from the departing to the landing airport. You can easily check the distance on websites such as gcmap.com."

2. Get a co-branded credit card

One of the easiest ways to boost your mile count is to get a co-branded credit card.

"Most credit cards offer a big welcome bonus and, in addition, you can get from one to three miles for each euro spent with the credit card," according to HolidayPirates.

"This enables you to pay for your everyday purchases with the credit card and collect miles with things you would’ve bought anyway. The more you spend, the quicker you will accumulate air miles.

"Remember that in most cases, when applying for a credit card, you must be a resident in the country in which you want to carry out your banking operations. Also, be sure to check the terms and conditions before applying for any credit card. Most cards are free for the first year, but require you to pay a fee in the second year, the amount of which often depends on the conditions provided by the bank."

3. Open up a checking account

Another easy way to gain miles quickly is to open a new bank account.

"Many banks have special offers for miles collectors, often giving away several thousand miles when you open an account. In some cases, banks will offer more miles if you have a certain income per month, or if you refer a friend and they also open a current account.

"The rules are the same as with the co-branded credit card — you must be a resident in the country where you want to open up your current account. Before opening an account, always make sure to check the terms and conditions, as sometimes there might be account management fees."

4. Get a newspaper or magazine subscription

"Check out with which newspapers or magazines your chosen program partners with and consider subscribing to the magazine or newspaper for a year. Usually, you can get a great deal of air miles by signing up for just one year.

"Be careful to note down the period of notice required for cancelling your subscription, [as] in many cases the magazine or newspaper may automatically renew your contract without providing you with further air miles. In this instance, if you want to earn more miles, once your subscription has ended, look for another magazine or newspaper that your chosen program partners with."

5. Book hotel stays and car rentals

Almost every frequent flyer program partners with hotels and car rentals, and you should try and book your overnight stays and vehicles through their platforms in order to earn the most miles possible.

"Often, it's possible to find special offers where you are able to earn a larger amount of miles than usual in return for your booking. In some cases, you may also find that when you book through your frequent flyer program’s website, you are able to get better quality rooms at a hotel, or a better choice of vehicle at the car rental company, making frequent flyer programs great value for money."

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How to deal with your emotions and take control of your life

• Home prices in the US are lowest during the winter months each year.
• Real estate investors pay 6.6% less per square foot for the same rental property during the winter as they do during the spring and summer.
• In some of the country's biggest metros, a winter buy could increase your overall return on investment by as much as 36%.

Winter is the best time to buy a home— and that includes scooping up a rental property. 

HomeUnion, an online real estate and investment firm, recently released a list of the best places in America to score a bargain on a rental property this season. They compared return on investment figures for homes purchased during winter and homes purchased during summer in the country's biggest metro areas.

"Median home prices drop substantially during the colder months, while rent losses remain marginal for landlords," said Steve Hovland, director of research for HomeUnion. "On average, investors can acquire higher-yielding properties in cold-weather markets like Omaha, Nebraska, Buffalo, and Chicago, as well as some Sun Belt markets."

To determine how much a winter buyer saves in each market, HomeUnion looked at all single-family housing sales over $30,000 that occurred in October and November 2017, and compared them to May and June 2017.

HomeUnion then calculated the capitalization rate (or "cap rate") — the return on investment after operating costs — for each market, and subsequently, the percentage difference between the cap rate in winter months and summer months.

Below, we've highlighted the 26 cities where the cap rate increased by more than 10% when an investor purchased a rental property in the winter rather than the summer.

SEE ALSO: Here's where home prices could take the biggest hit thanks to tax reform

DON'T MISS: The 11 worst cities for homeowners after the GOP tax bill goes into effect

26. Rochester, New York

Increase in annual investment return: 10.32%

Median home sale price (winter): $120,000

Median home sale price (summer): $138,802

Savings on home purchase: 14%

25. Fort Lauderdale

Increase in annual investment return: 10.53%

Median home sale price (winter): $210,000

Median home sale price (summer): $230,000

Savings on home purchase: 9%

24. San Jose

Increase in annual investment return: 10.74%

Median home sale price (winter): $823,500

Median home sale price (summer): $950,000

Savings on home purchase: 13%

• Silicon Valley is developing an obsession with untreated, unfiltered water.
• "Raw" water can spread bacteria and diseases including cholera, E. coli, Hepatitis A, and Giardia.
• People make illogical decisions and buy into absurd trends because of a reliance on emotions and their personal experiences over historical and scientific facts. 

Silicon Valley is no stranger to bizarre trends. 

The latest: unfiltered, untreated water. Sold as "raw" or "live" water, fans say that the beverage has health benefits that tap or traditional bottled water lacks. 

There's a lot that's wrong with this. First, there's no scientific evidence that untreated water has additional health benefits. In fact, there's a lot of evidence that water that isn't properly treated is extremely dangerous. 

"Almost everything conceivable that can make you sick can be found in water," food safety expert Bill Marler told Business Insider. 

Unfiltered, untreated water, even from the cleanest streams, can contain animal feces, spreading Giardia, which brings on symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea and results in roughly 4,600 hospitalizations a year. Hepatitis A, which resulted in 20 deaths in a California outbreak in 2017, can be spread through water if it isn't treated. E. coli and cholera can also be transmitted via untreated water.

The reason these infections aren't killing Americans constantly is because of scientific advances — and safety regulations — that have been made over the last century. Obsession with the dangerous beverage in certain circles reveals both an unscientific self-absorption and a lack of historical understanding. 

Because filtered, treated water has become the norm, Marler says, most people don't realize how dangerous s0-called "raw water" can be.

"The diseases that killed our great-grandparents were completely forgotten about," he said.

Most Americans don't personally know anyone who died of Hepatitis A or cholera, thanks to advances in technology and more stringent safety standards. As a result, they had a hard time realizing the risks involved in consuming untreated water.

"It's fine till some 10-year-old girl dies a horrible death from cholera in Montecito, California," Marler said.

In other words, those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. 

In fact, the lack of clean water is still an issue in the modern world — including parts of the US. Roughly 200 million Americans said in a recent survey by the water advocacy brand Bluewater that they worry about contaminants in their drinking water.

It's a problem that persists far beyond untreated water. 

"Similar to Bodega (which seeks to replace independent corner stores) and the now-defunct Juicero (which sold $400 juicers), 'raw water' startups may be trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist — at least in Silicon Valley," reported Business Insider's Leanna Garfield.

According to Marler, the raw-water trend is similar to people's obsession with raw milk or opposition to vaccines. While they lack scientific evidence, they're convinced that they are correct, in part because they have failed to see the repercussions of life without scientific advances.

Spring water — without any modern filtering systems — appeals to people's emotional idea of purity and health. It only takes talking to a scientist or reading a history book to see that consuming unfiltered water has lead to countless deaths over the centuries. 

"You can't stop consenting adults from being stupid," Marler said. "But we should at least try."

SEE ALSO: Silicon Valley elites are obsessed with dangerous, unfiltered water — and it reveals a hidden economic inequality

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• Actress and Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow spoke with Net-a-Porter about her diet and exercise routine.

• She said she exercised for two hours a day and usually skips breakfast and eats a low-carb lunch.

• I decided to tackle her habits for a week.

I tried to live like Gwyneth Paltrow for a week, and it didn't quite work out the way I'd planned.

Paltrow famously leads an intense life. In terms of exercise, she used to do an hour of cardio and an hour of weights six days of the week. Her lifestyle brand Goop also hawks all sorts of hardcore detoxes and cleanses.

But all that doesn't really reflect Paltrow's current reality. She recently told Net-a-Porter that she doesn't have the time or energy to tackle that grueling schedule anymore: "I'm getting old, my back hurts! It's depressing. Some days, the gym gives me this rush of energy and I feel amazing, but then my body's like 'f--- you.'"

She also doesn't stick to any Goop cleanses for a long amount of time. She told Net-a-Porter she passes on breakfast and eats a low-carb lunch "so my energy levels don't peak and valley through the day." Then, for dinner, she typically decides to "loosen the reins."

I decided to follow her diet as best I could, as well as take up her previous exercise routine. Here are the rules I was determined to follow for a week:

• Skip breakfast.

• Have a low-carb lunch.

• Put in an hour of cardio exercise.

• Go for an hour of weights-based exercise.

• Eat a dinner along the lines of her typical evening meal: "A glass of wine, maybe a baguette dripping in cheese, some fries."

I didn't prepare at all for this. I just jumped into it, sparking concerns among the people I know. "You're going to die," several coworkers told me when I described my plan. Family members predicted I would "seriously injure" myself and expressed concerns about my shambling running style.

All of this just bolstered my determination to rise to the occasion.

The experiment itself left me somewhat surprised. On the one hand, some of Paltrow's dietary habits were easier to tackle than I thought. On the other, I ended up pulling my shoulder.

Here's a look at what happened when I tried to live like Gwyneth Paltrow for a week:

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I skipped breakfast every day.

Before this Gwyneth Paltrow challenge, bagels were my go-to morning meal. I'd often grab one — poppy seed with cream cheese or butter — before heading into the office.

But, like some celebrities, Paltrow skips breakfast altogether. So I had to kick the habit. Instead of stopping by the bagel shop, I'd just hop on the train at head to work.

Truth be told, this wasn't particularly challenging for me. Back in college, I rarely ate breakfast. It may or may not be the most important meal of the day, but I've never had a problem skipping it.

I managed to follow this aspect of Paltrow's schedule for the entire week. To be honest, I think the week-long bagel cleanse worked. I haven't had a bagel since. Health-wise, they're far better as an occasional treat than a breakfast staple.

For lunch, I'd eat a salad at my desk.

I didn't have too much trouble with lunch either. Normally, I'd grab a sandwich or a slice of pizza from some place near the office. For the experiment, I needed to spring for low-carb choices instead.

I tried to get fancy and even looked up some of Paltrow's salad recipes. There were some tempting options in her cookbooks. I figured I'd try to make a few, to tide me over for the week. Heck, I even bought a jar of cornichons — which are adorable, tiny pickles.

But, to be honest, I ran out of time before I could snag all the ingredients necessary to throw together some of Paltrow's recipes (what the heck is "silken tofu," anyway, and where am I supposed to find it?).

So I ended up improvising. My non-fancy salad was pretty good, though. I'd pack it up in Tupperware and eat it at my desk every day around noon, with a ginger ale.

I enjoyed the salads, but I was bummed to have to decline a ton of delicious offerings throughout the week. In the run up to the holidays, my coworkers seemed to show up to work with chocolates, cookies, and other sweet treats every other day.

By the end of the week, I was getting a bit bored with salad, although I tried to spice things up by switching up the dressings.

In fairness, I probably could've gotten more experimental with my lunches — "low carb" can include a whole range of meals, of course. But I only have so much brain power to devote to planning out and cobbling together what I'm going to eat ahead of time.

Still, I didn't have much of a problem sticking to low-carb lunches for the entire experiment.

Once I got home, I'd tackle the weight-lifting portion of the exercise routine first.

Once I got home, I'd hide in the basement, where no one could see me flailing around with a medicine ball and hand weights, looking like a reject from the world's worst workout video.

I was unsurprised to find out that weights aren't my strong suit. I didn't really know what I was doing, so I just switched in between different moves for the hour. It was boring and hard. And I'm sure my technique left much to be desired.

Around Wednesday, my left shoulder began to really hurt. An hour of weights is probably too much if you're clueless about exercise — especially if you're making a leap from couch potato to workout fanatic, like I was. After Wednesday, I had to cut down on the weights a bit.

Overall, I'd say I truly disliked this aspect of the experiment. I'd rather do cardio for an hour than do weights for an hour. At least you can read while walking on the treadmill. The weight exercises just felt repetitive and tedious after about a half an hour.

• Body language is a major part of how we communicate.

• It's important to cultivate positive body language habits and avoid other behaviors that diminish how you appear to others.

• Slouching, shuffling, and aggressive eye contact are all body language habits that are best to drop.

It's not what you say, it's how you say it.

It's a cliché, but it's true. Body language is a crucial part of communicating. The way you act can warp the entire meaning of what you're saying.

That being said, bad body language habits are the often hardest habits to break. We become so accustomed to slouching, averting our eyes, or folding our arms that we barely even notice what we're doing.

Here are several body language mistakes that are going to be tough to ditch. Still, if you're able to quit them, you'll definitely thank yourself later.

SEE ALSO: 6 body language tricks that are hard to master but will pay off forever

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Fidgeting

If you've gotten into the habit of fidgeting, it can be difficult to snap out of it. But it's important to take steps to reigning in this nervous habit.

Fidgeting demonstrates nervousness and a lack of power, as body-language expert and "The Power of Body Language" author Tonya Reiman previously told Business Insider.

Playing with your hair

Leave your hair alone. Constantly running your hands across your scalp and twirling your locks is pretty distracting. Plus, as ABC reported, it can damage your hair overtime. It can be hard to quit, so try playing around a stress ball instead of your hair.

Adopting a defensive pose

Many people naturally cross their arms or hunch over a bit just because they don't know what to do with their hands.

However, this posture can make you look uncomfortable, defensive, or untrustworthy.

"You should always keep your hands in view when you are talking," Patti Wood, a body- language expert and author of " SNAP: Making the Most of First Impressions Body Language and Charisma," previously told Business Insider. When a listener can't see your hands, they wonder what you are hiding."

Podcasts are becoming more popular every year, which means there's a wealth of audio storytelling to listen to — and many options to choose from.

We're here to help.

Whether you need something to listen to on your commute or just want a brain-boost while you pick up around the house, you can always trust a science podcast to teach you something new.

Some of our favorites tell fantastic stories, others examine the science behind controversial topics, and a few delve deep into the mysteries of how we exist in and understand the world. Many of these podcasts stretch beyond science, talking about tech or culture, but all examine scientific topics, including psychology, artificial intelligence, pharmacology, and more.

These are our 12 favorite science podcasts.

SEE ALSO: The 23 best science movies and shows streaming on Netflix that will make you smarter

"Hidden Brain"

The NPR show "Hidden Brain" takes deep dives into one of the most complex objects we know of in the universe: the human mind. Covering everything from psychology to neuroscience, host Shankar Vedantam investigates why people act, feel, and think the way we do.

Vedantam looks at how parents do (and don't) shape their kids minds, the ways humans cope with the unexpected, and why our attention can be sucked into the internet for hours at a time.

"The Story Collider"

In this personal storytelling show, individuals recite their own tales — similar to "The Moth" — but they're all focused on science and more specifically, the ways that science touches people's lives. It's a science-themed show about people.

In some cases, scientists tell stories about things that have blown their minds or gone horribly wrong. In others, you might get a heartwarming (or heartbreaking) tale informed by science. And some stories are just funny. 

"StarTalk Radio"

While some podcasts focus on humans or life on Earth, "StarTalk" takes a much larger-scale approach. Hosted by science-popularizing astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, the show takes on the cosmos.

Tyson discusses what it would be like to live on Mars, the search for extra-terrestrial life, and occasionally dabbles in other scientific topics like technology in football or the new science of LSD. 

Wondering when to stop drinking coffee and using screens to avoid messing with your sleep? How frequently you should wash your sheets?

Scientists have been looking for answers to these questions too.

You can use their answers to guide many of the decisions you make on a nightly basis, from what you drink at night to how often you do laundry.

SEE ALSO: What your daily routine should look like, according to science

Watch your mid-afternoon caffeine intake.

The Mayo Clinic advises adults to limit their caffeine intake to 400 mg per day, or the equivalent of about two to three coffees. Caffeine content can differ dramatically based on the type of coffee, however. Just 1.5 cups of Starbucks contains 400 mg of caffeine, while you'd need four cups of McDonald's drip coffee to equal that amount.

Like too much of anything, excess caffeine comes with risks, including migraine headaches, irritability, upset stomach, and even muscle tremors — so it's important to know how much you're getting.

On your commute home, don't agonize over germs.

A team of geneticists made headlines in 2015 for a mission to document all the bacteria on the New York City subway. They turned up nearly 600 different species of microbes crawling around on all those greasy rails.

Before whipping out the hand sanitizer and tissues, keep this in mind: Almost all of the germs they found were completely harmless. In fact, there's evidence to suggest that regular exposure to germs helps keep our immune systems healthy by priming it to more easily recognize dangerous microbes in the future. The idea could partially explain why children who grow up around animals and in rural areas are less likely to develop conditions like asthma than children who don't.

Skip happy hour, or go simply for the food and company.

Alcohol is one of the world's most widely consumed drugs, but drinking even small amounts — as little as one glass of wine or beer a day — has been linked with a host of negative side effects, including cancer. In November, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, a group of the nation's top cancer doctors, released an unprecedented warning in which it told Americans to drink less.

"ASCO believes that a proactive stance by the Society to minimize excessive exposure to alcohol has important implications for cancer prevention," the statement said.

So at your next happy-hour event, consider skipping the booze or doing something else.

• Actress-turned-director Quinn Shephard was 20 when she made her debut feature film "Blame" in 2015.
• The movie went on to win the best actress prize at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival and later found theatrical distribution.
• Shephard had to cash in her college fund to self-finance the movie after her sole investor disappeared a week into shooting.

“It’s a really crazy story!”

That’s how 22-year-old actress-turned-director Quinn Shephard began when she sat down at a coffee shop in Manhattan’s East Village to talk with Business Insider about her feature directing debut, “Blame” (opening Friday in theaters and On Demand).

Shephard has acted professionally since she was five years old, and has the personality and looks that could easily get her on an upcoming series made by The CW, but these days she's more interested in music rights and color correction. That’s because for the last two years, she has dedicated her life to making a feature-length movie that’s been developing in her mind since she was 15.

A storyteller since birth

Growing up in Metuchen, New Jersey, Shephard’s teenage years were filled with telling stories. When she was 12 she hand wrote a 300-page novel. It’s currently in a binder somewhere in the basement of her parents’ house. Also around that time, she began to make short films after taking a filmmaking class at school. Then at 15, after reading “The Crucible,” she decided she would do a feature-length modern retelling of Arthur Miller’s classic play.

“I’ve always loved writing,” Shephard said. “This movie is me making something that I really wanted to do since I was a teenager.”

Shephard’s script for “Blame” went through numerous phases in the years before shooting began, but the basic story was always there — a girl (played by Shephard) is fixated on her high school drama teacher, and that leads a jealous classmate to concoct a witch hunt-like investigation to reveal the alleged taboo relationship.

To get the script from an unmakable 130 pages to a point where she was able to cast “The Mindy Project” star Chris Messina in the teacher role, and Nadia Alexander (USA series “The Sinner”) as the jealous classmate (Melissa), Shephard honed her storytelling technique by writing more feature scripts. She also made short films, including “Till Dark” in 2015, about a boy’s obsession with his childhood friend.

“Till Dark” was an exciting moment in the process for Shephard. Many of the crew on the short would make “Blame” with her the summer of that year. There was finally a light at the end of the tunnel.

Looking back, Shephard said making “Till Dark” was a great calling card to land Messina and other key crew members, but in getting ready for the rigors of feature filmmaking, “it doesn’t prepare you at all” she said.

When everything that could go wrong, does

Shephard produced “Blame” with her mother, Laurie. The only career experience they had making movies was their time on set as actresses — Laurie's main highlight was being on a few episodes of “Days of Our Lives” in 1993; Quinn has been in numerous TV series and movies since she was five, her biggest being a regular on CBS’ “Hostages” in 2013.

Despite their efforts to land an experienced producer to come on the movie, it never materialized. This left the Shephards to learn on the fly what producers do behind the scenes.

“Everything that possibly could go wrong did go wrong,” Shephard said, recalling her mom constantly reading the book “Producer to Producer: A Step-By-Step Guide to Low-Budget Independent Film Producing” for guidance.

“That was her go-to,” Shephard said. “It was that level of inexperience on how to produce.”

Then the movie was hit with what all producers fear the most — its sole investor suddenly disappeared.

It happened the first week of shooting “Blame.” With cast and crew flown to Metuchen, where the movie would be shot, a wire transfer of money that was promised to the Shephards never appeared.

“It was literally, ‘Wire transfer coming on Tuesday,’ and never heard from him again,” Shephard said (she would not give the investor’s name, only saying he was a filmmaker that she and her family had known for a long time).

“We never got an explanation, he just ghosted one day,” Shephard continued. “I never heard from him again.”

Shephard then had to make a vital decision: pull the plug or continue on with the movie.

“We felt we couldn’t turn back,” she said. “This was something we had spent so many years trying to get off the ground, if we had to bail on it when we were right there it would have been the most heartbreaking thing.”

Shephard decided to cash in her college fund and take the money she had from being on “Hostages” to self-finance her movie.

“I felt, I would rather be totally broke than have a broken spirit,” said Shephard, who would not give a specific budget for “Blame,” only saying it is under $250,000.

Finishing the movie at any cost

The money got Shephard through the 19-day shoot — which was mostly shot in her old high school in Metuchen — but it pretty much left no funds for post production.

So Shephard edited the movie herself.

Thanks to discounts and in-kind support from a post-production house in Montreal, and the kindness of a few crew members, Shephard took two trips to Montreal to edit, score, and do other post-production elements (sound mix and color correction).

For her first trip, Shephard stayed in the studio of composer Pierre-Philippe Côté as they created the score. She then lived with his aunt while editing at the post-production house. On the second trip, she stayed in the basement of Sylvain Brassard, her sound mixer.

“The second trip I couldn’t afford a plane ticket so I took the Megabus to Montreal,” Shephard said. “I did this thing at any cost.”

The post-production hustle paid off. When Shephard began to show the movie around people were shocked by its look, which to someone who doesn’t know the backstory looks like it was made for the high six-figures to $1 million.

“Blame” got its world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, where Alexander won the best actress award for the Melissa role. Soon after the festival, Samuel Goldwyn Films bought the North American rights to the movie.

Telling teen stories with adult topics

Alexander told Business Insider she believed it was the comfort of being directed by someone the same age as her that led to her acclaimed performance.

“It gives you your own unique power that you wouldn’t necessarily get on a set with a 45-year-old director and producers running around,” Alexander said of working with a peer. “Making Melissa a lot more crass with the boys was my suggestion to Quinn, so I had a comfort to come forward and say to her, ‘I want to do this with the character.’”

Actress Sarah Mezzanotte, who plays Melissa’s friend Sophie, said she could feel the movie’s authenticity right from the pages she read for her audition.

“I knew immediately that it was written by a young female,” she said. “You can tell when something isn’t written authentically. I could tell this was by someone who understands what it’s like to be a young woman struggling with identity and fitting in.”

Shephard is now preparing to tell her stories on a larger scale.

Following Tribeca, she landed an agent at WME and plans to cut down her acting considerably to focus on writing and directing. She said she’s close to landing a feature directing project at a studio as well as a TV project.

“‘Blame’ is a proof of concept,” Shephard said. “It has shown that there's a place for me to do my genre, which is teens dealing with adult topics. Giving three-dimensional plotlines to young women in a way that I don't think is represented right now. Many of my favorite shows and movies are these complex stories about middle-aged men. I think it's time to tell complex stories focused on teenage girls.” 

Shephard is at that moment in a career when being in the same room with movie stars, and taking meetings with executives, can lead to getting too caught up in the glossy side of Hollywood. But she said she’s stayed grounded. She only recently created an Instagram account, and it was because she wanted to better connect with teens who are searching for inspiration.

“I've gotten emails from girls who are 15, 16 years old, who said they read about me and now have signed up for a filmmaking course or started working on a script with their friends,” Shephard said. “They said, ‘I didn't think there was any point for me trying to do this at this age because I thought I would have to go to college or film school.’ It's important that we have young women in the media. I’m not trying to say I'm a role model, but it's important if you have an opportunity to reach young women you make them see that they can be businesswomen and run the show. So if my story makes them feel that in any way then it was worth it.” 

SEE ALSO: Movie attendance his a 25-year low in the US in 2017, as viewers "flock to streaming in droves"

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• Golden Globes host Seth Meyers didn't hold back when he addressed the sexual misconduct in Hollywood during his opening remarks.
• Celebrities then took to Twitter to praise how Meyers handled the moment.

Seth Meyers came out guns blazing to open the 2018 Golden Globes.

With sexual misconduct allegations hovering over Hollywood for months, and almost everyone dressed in black to support the Time's Up initiative, the late-night host addressed the elephant in the room right when he came on stage.

"Good evening ladies and remaining gentleman," Meyers said to open the show. And he just went on from there.

"It's 2018, marijuana is finally allowed and sexual harassment finally isn't," he said, adding that 2017 was the "year of big little lies and get out, and the television series 'Big Little Lies' and the movie 'Get Out.'"

Here are a couple more jokes that broke up the audience at the Beverly Hilton:

• "It's been years since a white man has been this nervous in Hollywood."
• "For men, tonight is the first time in three months it won't be terrifying to hear your name announced."

Meyers also said that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which puts on the Golden Globes, did try to get a woman to host this year's Globes, but then "they heard it would be held in a hotel," referring to many accounts of sexual misconduct toward Hollywood women taking place in hotel rooms.

Donald Trump wasn't safe in Meyers' opening, either. When mentioning how Seth Rogen is a more important "Seth" in the room, the host added, "Remember when he was the guy making trouble with North Korea? Simpler times," said Meyers.

Meyers' friend Amy Poehler even got in on the mix, hilariously taking over a bit where he would say the set-up of a joke and then a woman in the audience would do the punchline.

One of the biggest reactions, though, was when Meyers did a joke about Harvey Weinstein, who sparked the current reckoning after The New York Times and The New Yorker revealed three decades of alleged sexual misconduct by the movie executive.

Meyers said that Weinstein would have his comeback to Hollywood "in 20 years when he's the first person ever booed during the In Memoriam."

And then Meyers ended his opening by getting serious, and recognizing women in the business who "had to work even harder" to build a career in the world of entertainment.

"I look forward to you leading us to whatever comes next," Meyers said. 

Celebrities then took to Twitter to praise Meyers' opening:

SEE ALSO: Here's what all the celebrites wore at the 2018 Golden Globes

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• The Home Office hopes to extend licensing hours for pubs and bars over the weekend of the next royal wedding.
• Prince Harry will marry Meghan Markle on Saturday May 19 at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, the same day as the FA Cup final.
• Under the proposal, hours would be extended until 1 a.m.

The Home Office hopes to extend licensing hours for pubs and bars across the UK over the royal wedding weekend in May this year, it announced on Sunday.

The government has launched a public consultation on plans to extend licensing hours on the nights of Friday 18 and Saturday 19 May until 1 a.m. "to give everyone the chance to celebrate the occasion."

Prince Harry will marry Meghan Markle on Saturday May 19 at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, Berkshire — the same day the FA Cup final will be held at Wembley.

Licensing hours were last extended for the Queen’s 90th birthday in 2016, and before that for William and Kate’s wedding in 2011.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: "The Royal Wedding will be a time of national celebration, and we want everyone to be able to make the most of such an historic occasion.

"I hope that this relaxation of the licensing hours will allow people to extend their festivities and come together to mark what will be a very special moment for the country."

Most pubs and bars in the UK shut at 11 p.m. or 12 p.m., although some have obtained licences which allow them to stay open later.

Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association commented: "This is great news for pubs and pub-goers and shows the government has listened to our calls to put pubs at the heart of the royal wedding celebrations.

"Visitors see the great British pub as a cultural icon, almost as much as the royal family." He added that the proposed extended hours could give a £10 million boost to the trade.

SEE ALSO: There's a theory for why Prince William always holds George's hand in public while Kate looks after Charlotte — and experts on royals say it could be true

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We talked to Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman about tax reform, Trump, and bitcoin

• Breaking up with someone is painful.
• According to scientific research, this is because the same areas in the brain are activated when we feel heartbreak and when we feel physical pain.
• Other studies have also shown that love is like an addiction, and losing it can be like going through withdrawal.
• Psychologist Guy Winch believes understanding why we feel, think, and behave as we do after a break-up is important for recovery.

Anyone who has been through a break-up will tell you how much it hurts. When the person you care about the most tells you they don't want to be with you anymore, it can feel like your whole world is falling apart.

The pain can also be excruciating.

Break-ups can have a dramatic impact on our bodies. For example, broken heart syndrome is a real condition, with serious and painful symptoms. Other studies have also shown how break-up stress can cause acne, loss of appetite, and sore muscles.

But as well as the body, our brains also go through a lot after a break up. In a post on Psychology Today, psychologist Guy Winch wrote about the effects that splitting up with our partner can have on our brains.

When someone tells you they are in pain after a break up, they are probably telling the truth.

A study from 2011, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), found that romantic rejection meant areas of the brain associated with feelings of pain are activated.

Psychologist Edward Smith from Columbia University in New York City recruited 40 volunteers who had gone through an unwanted break-up in the past six months. Then, while in an MRI machine, they were asked to look at photo of their ex-partners and think about how they were rejected.

The MRI scans showed that while participants were thinking about their romantic turmoil, areas in the brain associated with physical pain lit up.

Another study from 2010, published in the Journal of Neurophysiology, looked into why romantic rejection causes a profound sense of loss.

Anthropologist Helen E. Fisher from Rutgers University and her team looked at areas in the brain associated with cocaine addiction, to see if they could help explain the obsessive behaviors associated with love.

They found that missing your significant other lights up the same parts of your brain as cocaine users who are waiting for their next line. In other words, love is addictive, and breaking up with someone is like going through withdrawal.

"These powerful withdrawal symptoms (from the loss of love) impact our ability to think, focus, and function in the broadest terms," Winch, the psychologist, wrote in his blog post.

"We would never expect an addict in the midst of withdrawal to be able to function in their job or personal life because we understand they are in a temporarily abnormal mental state. We need to think of heartbreak in the same terms and modify our expectations of ourselves and others accordingly."

Winch adds that intrusive thoughts about our exes can keep us stuck in the past. We are always told that time is a great healer, but sometimes it might feel like no length of time will be long enough to get over the heartache.

The problem is our brains keep conjuring up memories of our ex that can come out of nowhere. It might be a happy memory, a conversation, or thoughts of "what if?"

"Each time an intrusive thought appears it interrupts us, reopens our wound, reactivates our emotional pain and triggers our withdrawal symptoms," Winch said.

"Given that intrusive thoughts can occur dozens of times in a given hour, and given how significantly they can set us back, it is clear why so many of us struggle to get over heartbreak and recover in a timely manner."

SEE ALSO: You might suffer from something called 'hysterical bonding' when you break up with someone — here's what it means

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