Breaking up with a toxic person can sometimes feel like your world has crumbled in on itself. While you will eventually feel free from their clutches, it takes a while to get there.

Because of something called trauma bonding, abusive relationships can be incredibly hard to leave. Over time the abuser — especially if they are a narcissist — will have made you feel like you can't live without them.

But you will eventually realise how much better off you are without them in your life, and will be better equipped for relationships in the future.

During the toxic relationship, you probably forgot to take care of yourself. David Brudö, CEO and cofounder of the mental well-being and personal development app Remente, told Business Insider there are several ways to practise self-love after a bad relationship has ended.

These can also be applied to any break-up, not just the end of a relationship with an abuser. Here they are:

1. Learn to let go

"Easier said than done but learning to let go is one of the most important steps to take if you want to relieve yourself of a toxic relationship," Brudö said. "Accept that everyone makes mistakes and that they are in the past, and only take away what you learnt from the situation."

It'll be difficult at first, he added, but the more you practise, the easier it will become.

2. Have some "me" time

It's more important than ever to do the things you enjoy doing. Brudö said it's the perfect time to take up a new hobby, or complete that project you just didn't get around to doing.

"Set aside a couple of evenings a week to do something you truly enjoy outside of work, as that will drastically decrease your stress levels and help keep your spirits high," he said.

3. Take control

Once you've taken enough time to get your feelings under control, you can channel your energy into something else.

"Whenever we feel strongly about a situation outside of our influence, it can be hugely empowering to take charge of something that is entirely under our control," Brudö said. "It can be anything from a new project at work, to prepping your meals for the week ahead. Seeing something you do make a difference can go a long way in preventing you from feeling angry and frustrated."

4. Minimise your bad habits

Although it might be tempting, try to avoid turning to drinking, smoking, or other unhealthy habits. It may feel like escaping in the short term, but you won't thank yourself in the long run.

"It doesn't help you address, or deal with your feelings, but instead creates a temporary escape and additional bitter feelings," Brudö said. "Instead, do something else you enjoy and focus on feeling healthy and happy instead."

5. Make your health a priority

Rather than turning to junk food and watching TV all day, Brudö said you should eat healthily and make sure you do some exercise. It will boost your endorphins, and help you sleep.

6. Communicate with others

A break up, especially a tough one, can make us lose perspective. Brudö said having friends and loved ones you can speak to can help you deal with your emotions.

"Discussing how you feel following the breakup with someone else as this will help you see the problems facing you in a different light and perhaps lead you to let go," he said. "Even if you don't find an answer, socialising will take your mind off the breakup and help you relax."

7. Try practising mindfulness

After a break-up, it can be tough to focus on anything else. In fact, we might not even realise we are letting negative, obsessive thoughts take over our minds.

"This is where mindfulness can be very useful," Brudö said. "Taking as little as three minutes to focus on your breathing and actually focus on all those flashbacks from the toxic relationship, thus bringing you closer to letting go and moving on."

8. Focus on the positives

It will take some time to get into the right frame of mine to do this, but when you look back on the relationship, try to find a positive that you learned from the experience.

"Finding a positive in emotional baggage can actually turn the negative experience into a positive, turning the 'baggage' into a learning curve," Brudö said.

9. Be patient

Building up your confidence again is going to take some time, so be patient. You might think of yourself as damaged, and that you'll never trust again, but in time you'll realise this isn't true.

"Practicing different ways of thinking and exercising new habits will eventually help you to let go of the past and become much more confident," Brudö said. "So, don't despair if you don't see changes happening overnight, as they will take time, but when they do happen, you will feel much happier."

SEE ALSO: 7 positive lessons you learn when you leave a toxic, abusive relationship behind

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Whether you're already married, planning a wedding, or have simply attended too many to count, you'll know that a wedding day comes with a mix of emotions, from stress to sadness to utter joy.

Weddings also differ depending on where in the world they're taking place.

In order to "promote and celebrate the art of wedding photography from around the globe," the International Wedding Photographer of the Year (IWP) Awards have released their list of the best wedding photos from 2017.

Professional wedding photographers from around the world entered their best snaps from real weddings days into one of 9 categories — Single Capture, From Above, Black & White, Epic Location, Solo Portrait, Dance Floor, Bridal Party, Album, and Couple Portrait.

Each image was scored by six judges. The scores were then averaged out to determine winners and runners-up within each category, as well as The International Wedding Photographer of the Year — who received $3,000 and a range of camera equipment — and Runner Up.

Scroll down to see a selection of the 26 most beautiful and intimate award-winning photos which show the reality behind weddings around the world.

SEE ALSO: 21 beautifully intimate, award-winning photos from weddings around the world

Grand Prize Winner & Category Winner, Solo Portrait: Erica Mann captured a bride with a double rainbow after a storm along the banks of Cougar Creek in Canmore, Alberta, Canada.

Runner Up & Category Winner, Single Capture: Photographer Paul Woo said he was 'secretly bawling behind the camera' as the son of the bride expressed his emotion seeing his mother come down the aisle.

Category Winner, Black & White: The bittersweet father-daughter dance was captured perfectly in this shot by Bruno Sauma at a wedding in Massachusetts, USA.

Serena Williams returns to the Women's Tennis Association Tour at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, this week.

The comeback marks the first time she'll contest an official singles tour match since the 2017 Australian Open — a tournament she won whilst pregnant.

Williams took the rest of the year off, gave birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., but is now ready to pick up where she left off.

In order to maintain her sporting dominance, Williams has to eat right before a match. So what sort of food does a 23-time tennis major champion serve up?

Here's everything Williams likes to have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

SEE ALSO: Serena Williams' Reddit-cofounder husband put all others to shame by installing 4 giant billboards in California saying she's the 'greatest momma of all time'

This is Serena Williams, a superstar tennis player who is returning to the sport after taking a year out to give birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.

Before a game, Williams "usually can't" eat and says it may be down to nerves. However, if she was going to have a meal, it would be a "protein and carb" combo like turkey sausage and baked potato.

Source: Glamour.

When Williams is away from the court, she spares no expense and orders a delicious and healthy looking platter for breakfast including staples like smoothies and fruits.

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• Psychopathy is a personality disorder, not a mental illness.
• There is no "cure" for psychopaths, and they will never be able to change.
• If they are in prison, psychopaths can be managed with reward-based treatment.
• But this is simply a means of control, rather than a cure.

Like many personality traits, psychopathy is a spectrum. About 1-2% of men and 0.3-0.7% of women in the general population are estimated to be true psychopaths, but for the rest of us, we fall on the scale somewhere lower down.

People who experience psychopathic traits, such as ruthlessness, charisma, impulsivity, and persuasiveness, tend to get through life just fine. Even full-blown psychopaths can be very successful — they just won't ever be the same as everyone else.

What sets a true psychopath apart from the rest of the population is a lack of empathy. They will never be able to sympathise with someone else's feelings, or care that someone else is suffering while they thrive. In fact, sometimes a psychopath will enjoy feeling superior while they cause chaos for other people.

Lacking empathy isn't a problem for a psychopath, and they won't ever believe there's anything wrong with them. By this logic, if you're ever worried about being a psychopath, that means you cannot be one.

It also means a true psychopath can never be "cured."

"From what I've read, what I've heard, what I've seen and experienced so far, people with dark triad personality disorders cannot and will not change," said Perpetua Neo, a doctor of psychology and therapist, in an earlier article for Business Insider.

She added that people with these traits — narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy — are usually good at pretending to be something they are not. For example, even if they were coerced into going to therapy, they would be able to manipulate and trick their therapists.

"They orchestrate this show, put on a false self in front of the therapist, and they know how to push the buttons of their partner, so their partner looks extremely unstable in these situations," Neo said. "The therapist may collude unknowingly with the dark triad person against the partner who really has been the one suffering."

A paper by Nigel Blackwood, a forensic psychiatrist at King's College London, explains that psychopaths do not fear punishment or social stigmatisation. They don't feel the need to fit into social norms, so expectations of society have no impact on their behaviour.

This is why, if they are convicted of crimes, the punishment seems to have no impact on them. As a result, Blackwood explains, it's incredibly hard to rehabilitate an adult psychopath in prison.

Reward-based treatment, such as giving them their favourite food or video games if they behave, is considered the best course to manage psychopaths who are incarcerated. But even by keeping them calm, this is a means of control, not a cure.

Not all psychopaths will become criminals, and many will get through life without anyone knowing what they are. But whether they end up causing trouble or not, there's no evidence their personality will ever change.

SEE ALSO: How psychopaths and sociopaths deceive and trick their therapists

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• Nestpick ranked 110 cities on 17 factors that it considers important to millennials.
• These included immigration tolerance, gender equality, whether or not its LGBTQ+ friendly, the state of the startup scene, in addition to its nightlife and festival status.
• Amsterdam, 2017's best city for under 30s, was knocked off the top spot this year.

These days most millennials will consider a broad range of factors when considering a city to reside in, including living costs, how liberal a city is, the employment opportunities, as well as more fun aspects, such as what the nightlife's like.

Recognising this, apartment hunting website Nestpick analysed 110 cities, taking four main concerns into consideration: Is there work available? Can you afford to live a good life? Is the city open and tolerant? And finally, can you have fun?

In its ranking, the company assigned a score for each city based on 17 "micro factors," including its immigration tolerance, gender equality, whether or not its LGBTQ+ friendly, the state of the startup scene, as well as its beer and festival ranking. 

Amsterdam took the top spot in Nestpick's 2017 ranking, but this year it crowned a new best city for millennials, so keep scrolling for the 13 cities where under 30s want to live most right now.

SEE ALSO: 26 real places and landmarks that look like they're straight out of a Wes Anderson film

13. San Francisco, US. The global tech hub naturally scored high in the startup stakes.

12. Bristol, UK. Bristol benefits from a lively nightlife and scored highly for its LGBTQ+ friendly environment.

11. Hamburg, Germany. The city may sometimes get overlooked for better known German cities but it also has a buzzing nightlife scene.

• The 90th Academy Awards airs Sunday, March 4 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
• You can only stream the Oscars ceremony on ABC's website and app with a participating TV provider in a select list of markets, or through a subscription-based service.
• ABC's red-carpet coverage, which starts at 6:30 p.m. ET, will be available to stream for free.

The 90th Academy Awards airs Sunday, March 4 at 8 pm ET on ABC, with Jimmy Kimmel returning for the second year in a row as the ceremony's host. 

For those without access to a television set, the options for streaming the show online are limited.

The Oscars ceremony will be available to stream on ABC's website and app, but only with a participating TV provider in the following markets: Chicago, Fresno, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Raleigh-Durham, and San Francisco. (DirecTV subscribers have a more extensive list of available markets.)

Additionally, subscription-based services like YouTube TV, Sling TV, and Playstation Vue will also stream the Oscars through ABC.

ABC's red-carpet coverage starts at 6:30 pm ET and is available for streaming for free as "The Oscars: All Access," through ABC's website and app, and on Facebook Live.

E!'s red-carpet coverage starts at 5 pm ET and will be available to stream on the E! website with a cable login.

SEE ALSO: 10 movies that tragically got zero Oscar nominations — and why they really should have

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• The 2018 Chevy Colorado ZR2 is a highly capable off-roader, with a robust 4WD system.
• But the pickup can still do everyday duty.
• For the price, you're getting a lot of truck for the money.

I've always been a big fan of the Chevy Colorado, the compact (really, mid-sized) pickup truck that Chevy rolled out a few years ago to invigorate the small-pickup segment.

The Chevy Colorado has been a big hit, compelling Ford to revive its own Ranger pickup in the US. So in addition to a pickup-truck war among the big guys — the Ford F-150 full-size, along with the forthcoming all-new Chevy Silverado and the Ram 1500 — we have a skirmish shaping up in the smaller-pickup segment, between Chevy and Ford.

Adding to the fun is the bevy of high-performance variants we now have in the market. We just put the Chevy Silverado Z71 up against the might Ford Raptor, and recently I got to check out the 2018 Chevy Colorado ZR2, the oomphier sibling of the regular truck.

Our $43,475 tester was well-equipped and ready for off-road action, but sadly I spent most of my time driving around suburban New Jersey. That's a shame, as fans of the ZR2 know that it's a capable rock-buster and really made to haul dirt bikes out the desert for dusty thrills.

Anyway, here's what I thought:

SEE ALSO: We drove a $63,000 Ford Raptor and a $58,000 Chevy Silverado Z71 to see which pickup truck we liked better — here's the verdict

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"Cajun Red Tintcoat!" What a great color! I want all my cars to look like this in the future.

Our test truck was $43,475 — the Colorado ZR2 is already a lot pricier then the $20,000 basic Colorado, but out tester came well-optioned out of the box before a few extras added about $700

Our ZR2 came with a crew cab and a "short box" bed. Some folks don't much like short boxes, but I think for the uses that most owners would put the Colorado to, the short box is ideal.

Home Depot runs, gardening, maybe some light brush-clearing and log-hauling duty — none would over stress the short box. I figure you could get two mountain bikes in there. Our tester also came with an installed roof rack for skis.

The Colorado ZR2 kind of blends aggression with sporty sleekness. Personally, I don't think the various fascia elements — grille, badge, headlights — are in good balance.

• Many people associate early morning exercise with success.
• But if you're not a morning person, making it to the gym first thing can feel like an impossible task.
• A physiologist believes that working out in the evening has some surprising benefits.
• She claims you are up to 30% stronger in the evenings compared to mornings, which can enhance your performance.

There's something incredibly smug about those people who get up at the crack of dawn and fit an hour's workout in all before their almond latte.

Most CEOs will tell you that they squeeze an early workout into their morning routine, and as a result many of us naturally associate morning exercise with success.

Working out first thing will kick-start your metabolism, wake your body and mind, and help you to focus throughout the day, they say.

It all sounds great, but for those of us who aren't "morning people," making that 7 a.m. class often feels like an impossible task.

However, while according to one physiologist the time of day you work out does impact your performance and results, that time isn't necessarily the morning.

Presenter Anna Richardson asked the question of what time of day is best for a workout in the latest episode of Channel 4's How to get Fit Fast show.

She said that some experts believe the right time to exercise is all relative and dependent upon your own individual body clock, or "chronotype," which determines whether or not you're a so-called "morning person."

However, even if you are one of these people, there are often plenty of reasons why training first thing is not logistically possible, she pointed out.

The good news for night owls is that some evidence suggests that training in the morning may not be superior to the evening when measuring performance.

'Muscles are up to 30% stronger in the evening'

Dr Gladys Pearson, a physiologist who studies muscles at Manchester Metropolitan University, is convinced that working out in the evening has a much bigger impact on your body than exercising at any other time of day, because the evening is when you are stronger.

Pearson's research suggests working out in the evenings can increase your physical capacity by between 8-30%. One of the reasons for this, she says, is that your muscles are warmer then.

Putting the theory to the test

Using trackers, Pearson's team compared the performance of three participants — including Richardson — jumping vertically on the spot in the morning and in the early evening.

And, while it was a certainly a small experiment, the results were rather surprising.

All three saw their performance enhanced in the evening. The smallest difference was seen in participant Beth's jumps, whose performance improved by 1.8% in the evening. Meanwhile, Richardson jumped 1.23 cm higher — equivalent to a 7.7% improvement in terms of performance — and Declan increased his jump height by 6 cm, an increase of 16.3%.

Pearson said that she believes the increased power and enhanced jumping capacity is not just down to warmer muscles, but that hormones are also playing a part in this.

"In the morning the hormones are more encouraging of breaking down the muscle, and in the evening it's the opposite," Pearson said, confirming to Richardson that you'll get better results in the evening, when your hormones are in muscle-building mode.

There's no doubt that there are benefits to starting your day with physical activity — not to mention the convenience of getting it out of the way early on — but the next time you miss that early morning class, don't beat yourself up too hard — you may even train harder later in the day.

SEE ALSO: A personal trainer says taking BCAAs, supplements popular with fitness influencers, is a waste of time — here's the simple thing you should do instead

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To qualify as a country worthy of investment, certain standards must be met.

A World Bank Group report highlighted four factors — the country's people, environment, relationships, and framework — that propel both individuals and corporations to invest in a given country's natural resources, markets, technologies, or brands.

Guided by the report from the World Bank Group, U.S. News identified the best countries to invest in for 2018.

Last month, U.S. News released their 2018 Best Countries ranking. To determine the overall list, U.S. News surveyed over 21,000 people worldwide about 80 different countries, measuring them on 65 different attributes, including cultural influence, entrepreneurship, and quality of life.

For the best countries to invest in ranking, U.S. News focused on just eight of the 65 attributes: entrepreneurship, economic stability, favorable tax environment, innovation, skilled labor, technological expertise, dynamism, and corruption. Responses from over 6,000 survey participants — who act as decision makers in business around the globe — were then used to determine the ranking.

See below for the rankings, which includes the country's population, GDP, and the GDP growth percentage in 2016.

20. Chile

Population: 17.9 million

Total GDP: $247 billion

GDP growth: 1.6%

19. France

Population: 66.9 million

Total GDP: $2.5 trillion

GDP growth: 1.2%

18. Brazil

Population: 207.7 million

Total GDP: $1.8 trillion

GDP growth:  -3.6%

• Lent lasts 40 days and 40 nights. For 2018, that's February 14 to March 29.

• The Black Fast is a medieval religious fast meant to be practiced during Lent that bars meat, alcohol, and dairy, and limits you to one meal a day, eaten after sundown.

• As a practicing Roman Catholic, I decided to try it out for nine days. I failed miserably.

Fasting seems to be having a moment.

It's huge in Silicon Valley and Hollywood, and celebrities like Beyonce, Terry Crews, Hugh Jackman, and Tim Ferriss have adopted intermittent fasting. This practice calls for you to eat whatever you want in an eight hour block, and then follow that up with a 16-hour fast. You can also just give up one meal a day.

The science is still up in the air, but early studies have indicated that fasting could boost weight loss, slow aging, and even sharpen your focus.

While it might seem like a hot new trend, fasting — specifically religious fasting — dates back centuries. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism all have their own fasting traditions.

I decided to try one particularly ominous-sounding medieval fast. The Black Fast is a grueling Catholic Lenten fast, which still survives among some Eastern Orthodox Catholics.

Here are the rules:

• You can eat one meal a day during Lent.

• The meal must be consumed after sunset — which is currently about 5:40 p.m. in New York.

• The meal cannot include meat, dairy, eggs, or alcohol.

• During Holy Week — the week leading up to Easter Sunday — you can only eat one meal consisting of bread, salt, herbs, and water. I skipped this part.

To get a better sense of the fast and its historical context, I spoke with Barbara Newman, professor of Latin, English, religious studies, and classics at Northwestern University and author of "Making Love in the Twelfth Century: 'Letters of Two Lovers' in Context" and "Medieval Crossover: Reading the Secular against the Sacred."

"Fasting has nothing to do with any desire to lose weight or to get thin or to be beautiful," she told Business Insider. "You fast to show repentance for your sins and to humble yourself."

I'm a practicing Roman Catholic, so I was curious to see whether this fast would improve my spiritual life. What I did discover was that St. Jerome was spot on when he wrote, "When the stomach is full, it is easy to talk of fasting."

Here's what happened when I tried this intense medieval fast for nine days:

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Before I embarked on the fast, I checked to see if it was okay to drink liquids throughout the day. I found an article on CatholicCulture.org that indicated beverages were fine, as long as they adhered to "the spirit of fasting." So giant smoothies packed with fruits and other toppings were out, but Cokes and Snapples from the office kitchen were fine.

Source: Catholic Culture

I also asked my good friend who observes Ramadan every year for advice. She recommended trying vitamin-rich dates (which, I confess, I never got around to buying) and sticking to nutritionally-balanced evening meals (which I definitely stuck to, aside from two notable detours involving calamari and Filet-O-Fish).

I also asked Newman if she had any recommendations. She reminded me to not forget about the spiritual aspects of the fast: "If you are Catholic and you're doing this as a religious exercise, the idea is it's always accompanied by prayer. It's not something you would do just for its own sake."

• Unlike service dogs, "emotional support animals" are an unregulated group.
• Some such animals have been causing serious problems on flights: peeing, defecating, and mauling passengers.
• There's little scientific evidence about what emotional support animals really do for people.
• Airlines are cracking down on support animals and issuing tighter regulations.

Emotional support peacocks. Emotional support snakes. Emotional support hamsters.

People have been bringing all sorts of "support animals" into public places recently, arguing the creatures should be allowed to fly on planes and come into offices or restaurants because they serve a mental-health purpose. 

But what does an emotional support pet actually do, and does the designation really mean anything?

Forensic psychologist Jeffrey Younggren from the University of Missouri put it bluntly to Business Insider: Scientists don't know if such pets do anything "other than make somebody happy," he said.

Younggren has spent years studying the growing trend of clients asking their therapists to sign letters certifying that they need an emotional support animal.

"The research is quite inconsistent on whether the animals really do anything at all," Younggren said.

But despite that lack of evidence, many therapists are signing "ESP" letters for their patients these days, without even seeing the animals in action. 

"How can you say the animal does something if you've never seen them with a patient?" Younggren said.

As more such letters get signed, more people are using the designation to let their pets fly on planes with them for free. And airlines have seen a huge spike in in-flight problems. Animals have been peeing, defecating, biting, and in one case mauling people on board Delta planes. The company reported an 84% increase in incidents involving unruly animals since 2016. 

On March 1, Delta started requiring anyone flying with an emotional support pet to sign a waiver stating that the animal can behave on a flight. The airline is also initiating other restrictions, including requiring proof of vaccination for emotional support pets and only accepting certification letters from a doctor or mental health professional. (In the past, travelers could easy pay for such a letter online.) United is also upping its policies, ABC News reported. 

What is an emotional support animal?

There's not really any regulation about what constitutes an emotional support pet, and people can buy their way into a designation pretty easily online for around $70.

Researchers in California looked at more than a decade of records of registered "assistance" dogs and found that from 1999-2012 there was a huge uptick in the number of smaller dogs, older dogs, and dogs used for psychiatric and medical assistance in the state. Those researchers argued that their study revealed a growing trend of "misunderstanding" and "misuse" of support dogs. 

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, a service animal must be trained to perform tasks for a person with a disability, be it physical or psychiatric. Disabilities include things like being blind or deaf, using a wheelchair, relying on a dog to remind you to take meds, or having a dog around in case of an anxiety attack.

Under federal law, only dogs and miniature horses weighing less than 100 pounds qualify for the "service animal" designation.

These trained animals are on the job and allowed to accompany their humans anywhere that members of the general public can go (including businesses, hospitals, and just about anywhere that's not a sterile operating room).

But the law is very clear: "Service animals are working animals, not pets." The ADA even spells out that "dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA."

The Fair Housing Act, however, is a bit more lenient: It says that US tenants have a right to keep "assistance animals," including emotional support pets, in their homes even if a leaser has a strict no-pets policy. 

Therapy dogs are a third category of animal, and they're trained to help calm patients down during therapy sessions, usually in clinical settings. 

Animals can help people feel better, but they have to be trained

People who train and certify dogs to work with patients are worried about the growing number of untrained pets flying around on planes.

Alice Smith, a client services coordinator at the PAWS dog training center in Florida, told Business Insider that untrained pets are giving real service dogs a bad name.

"There are people who just wanna be able to take their dogs with them everywhere, and they go online and buy a vest," Smith said. She added that if owners don't put in the six months to a year required to train an animal, the dog can end up barking and acting out in public. 

However, Smith believes dogs can be a huge help for people dealing with anxiety and depression. As a pet owner herself, she said she's benefitted from having dogs around when she's upset. 

"My dogs have just known it," she said. "They would come over to me, and get close to me, and as soon as I would pet them, I would calm down." 

Smith said there are likely many other people who'd benefit from having a furry, well-behaved friend nearby. In recent weeks, she said she's fielded calls from students in Florida who are scared about getting on the bus after the recent school shooting and think a support dog might help. Other kids call the training center because they're getting bullied and want an emotional support dog to help them get through the day safely. Dogs can also help guide their owners to exits in a panic, or just lean into a person to calm them down in a crowd.

"They can feel that dog's pressure, and know the dog's there," Smith said.

But Younggren pointed out that some people are afraid of dogs or allergic to them. For those individuals, a flight alongside an emotional support pet could be an anxiety- or illness-provoking experience.

It boils down to a simple, well-known problem, he said: "People who love dogs think everybody loves dogs."

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• Until recently, scientists had trouble answering the question: why do we sleep?
• Now we know that sleep restores the immune system, body, and cleanses the brain.
• But there's still a lot we get wrong and don't understand about sleep. The longstanding lack of knowledge has created a lot of sleep myths.

For something so fundamental to our lives, there's a lot that we don't get right about sleep.

Until recently, we didn't even have good answers to the question of "why" we sleep, as UC Berkeley neuroscience and psychology professor Matthew Walker explains in his recent book, "Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams."

We're better at answering that question now. We know that sleep restores the immune system, balances hormone levels, lowers blood pressure, cleanses toxins from the brain, and more.

"[W]e no longer have to ask what sleep is good for," wrote Walker. "Instead, we are now forced to wonder whether there are any biological functions that do not benefit by a good night's sleep. So far, the results of thousands of studies insist that no, there aren't."

But while we know far more about sleep now than we used to, there are a huge number of myths about sleep that persist. Many of these stem from not understanding the full importance of sleep; other myths have been created by people trying to sell products to improve nightly rest.

These are some of the most prominent myths — and the facts.

SEE ALSO: 11 things you’re doing that are setting you up for a terrible night’s sleep

Myth: You can become a morning person.

Spend enough time online and you'll certainly encounter some version of the "you can accomplish so much if you start waking up a 4:30 a.m. every day" blog post.

But the truth is more complex.

There are a number of factors that influence your chronotype — that is, whether you're a morning person, a night owl, or whether you fall somewhere in between. Your body clock changes throughout life and is influenced by factors like sunlight and genetics.

Researchers say that while most people can regulate their body clock to some degree (if you want to feel awake earlier, try getting morning sunlight), there's a limit to how much it can be changed. And for some people, becoming a morning person (or switching to become a night owl) is basically impossible. 

Myth: You can get by on less than seven hours a night.

If you need a cup of coffee in the morning to feel awake, you didn't get enough sleep.

Scientists like Walker say that if you want to figure out how much sleep you actually need, you should spend about a week letting yourself fall asleep when you are tired and then waking up naturally, without an alarm. 

As it turns out, the vast majority of people need between seven and nine hours of sleep a night. There are a few people out there who for biological reasons either need more sleep or can get by with less, but statistically, you're probably not one of them.

People tend to think they can get by with less sleep because after a few days or weeks of 5 or 6 hours, that just starts to feel like "normal." But even though people assume they've adjusted, tests show that they are performing in an impaired state.

Myth: The only long-term consequence of not getting enough sleep is that you'll be tired.

So you're tired. No big deal, right?

Unfortunately, that's not the case. As Walker wrote, sleep has a huge variety of benefits for your health.

Not getting enough sleep is associated with a laundry list of negative health effects, including memory problems, increased cancer risk, depression and anxiety, heart disease, and Alzheimer's linked buildups in the brain.

• Millennials are increasingly buying clothing that's characterized by durability and utility. 
• This has led to a surge of interest in brands like The North Face and Patagonia. 
• With durable fashion in vogue, fast-fashion retailers, like H&M and Forever 21, that have been known for creating cheaper, more disposable clothing are likely to suffer.

These days, you're as likely to spot a Patagonia fleece on the back of an explorer clambering their way up the side of a mountain face as you are to see it on a hipster sipping coffee in Brooklyn. 

Practical fashion is in vogue, and it's being driven by millennial customers' desire to shop at brands that sell clothes that last longer and seem to have a purpose.

Outdoorsy labels like Patagonia and The North Face are surging in popularity. These brands have won over the hearts of customers who were psychologically scarred by the recession and have become more considered with their spending habits.

Historically, during times of economic uncertainty and social unrest, consumers will dress in more practical clothing. 

"Economical or ideological climates definitely influence designers and consumers in the way they interact with fashion," Kate Nelson Best, an expert in fashion culture and author of the 2017 book "The History of Fashion Journalism" told Quartz. "For example, after the relative freedom of style in the 1920s, the 1930s [during the Great Depression] saw a return to a more conservative style of dressing: long dresses for evening, and suits for daywear. There was a more inward-looking consciousness."

This shift towards practical, sustainable fashion and away from the culture of buying cheap clothing from stores that jump on trends poses a big threat to fast-fashion retailers, such as H&M and Forever 21, which may offer lower prices than these brands but fall short on quality by comparison. 

Here are some of the most popular utility-focused brands:

SEE ALSO: Shoppers are dropping hundreds of dollars on 'ugly' clothes — here are some of the worst examples

Patagonia

Patagonia started out in 1973 as a company that made tools for rock-climbing. As consumers increasingly crave "authentic" brands and the image of leading an outdoors lifestyle, Patagonia has exploded in popularity to become a billion-dollar business with 103 stores globally. 

A spokesperson for the brand told Business Insider that sales have quadrupled in the past 10 years, but they wouldn't divulge exact figures as it's a private company. According to The Guardian, the company had sales of $800 million in 2016, which was twice as much as in 2010.

Part of Patagonia's success has stemmed from its marketing itself as being anti-consumerist and encouraging customers to only buy products that last. In 2011, it ran an ad campaign that showed its R2 fleece with the words "Don’t Buy This Jacket," explaining the environmental costs of making the fleece. The attention this ad received helped to drive an increase in sales in 2012.

"We can't control whether or not our brand is deemed cool or uncool, and we really don't care," Mark Little, Patagonia's director of men's sportswear and surf apparel, told GQ in 2017.

The North Face

The North Face started off in 1966 as a mountaineering and backpacking equipment company in San Francisco. It's since grown to offer all things you need to prepare yourself for the great outdoors, from skiwear to hiking and camping equipment. 

The image of The North Face has transitioned from being a purely practical brand to one that makes a fashion statement. 

"Their mainline products are seemingly so unassuming, so banal, so practical that each owner or subculture have been able to project their own identity onto those three simple curved lines and sans-serif text," the British culture magazine Dazed wrote in 2016. 

The North Face has taken off in Europe in recent years — in its parent company's most recent quarterly results, released in February, it reported that same-store sales were up by 32% in Europe compared to the previous year. Overall, they were up by 23% in Europe in 2017.

The North Face is owned by VF Corp, the parent company of Lee, Wrangler, and Vans. 

Fjällräven

Swedish brand Fjällräven started out making backpacks for schoolchildren. Today, its well-known bags are loved by millennials across the globe. The store launched in the US in 2012 and has become one of the fastest-growing names in outdoor and lifestyle wear here.

Fjällräven prides itself on creating long-lasting products. "We're not interested in short-lived trends," Thomas Gröger, a member of the company's executive board, told ISPO.com. 

It has a limited turnover of clothing with two seasons a year and no collection in between. On average, a product will stay available for 14 seasons.

"Our approach to product and how it works at retail is a bit different from the industry standards. We have products that have been in the line not just for multiple seasons, but for multiple decades,” Steve Stout, vice president of retail at Fjallraven North America, told Business Insider.

The Greenland jacket has been in the collection for 50 years.

• With an estimated $65.7 million this weekend, "Black Panther easily wins the box office for third-straight weekend.
• "Red Sparrow" came in second with $17 million, and "Death Wish" took third with $13 million.

"Black Panther" is box office king once again.

The latest Disney/Marvel sensation took in an estimated $65.7 million, according to boxofficepro, to win the weekend for a third consecutive weekend.

The movie has now earned over $500 million domestically, making it the second-highest grossing Marvel Cinematic Universe title ever, passing "Avengers: Age of Ultron" ($459 million) and behind "The Avengers" ($623.3 million).

Coming in second place was 20th Century Fox's $69 million racy spy drama "Red Sparrow," starring Jennifer Lawrence. The title took in $17 million, following luke-warm reviews and negativity directed at its sexually explicit scenes.

In third was MGM's $30 million "Death Wish," a reboot of the 1974 Charles Bronson hit about a father who seeks out vigilante justice. Starring Bruce Willis in the lead, the movie took in $13 million. This as the gun debate is at its peak following the horrific school shooting in Florida in February.

"Black Panther"'s box office thrown will get its greatest challenge next weekend when Disney releases Ava DuVernay's anticipated "A Wrinkle in Time." It will be interesting to see which comes out on top.

SEE ALSO: How Jennifer Lawrence's "Red Sparrow" director helped get her comfortable with the sexually explicit role

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: You can connect all 9 Best Picture Oscar nominees with actors they have in common — here's how

With the Academy Awards being handed out on Sunday, all of Hollywood will converge for the industry's biggest night to celebrate the best work of last year. But are they really?

There's a handful of movies that didn't get a single Oscar nomination and it's kind of criminal that the Academy didn't recognize them.

So the least we can do is give them a shout out.

From "Wonder Woman" to "The Lost City of Z," here are 10 movies that should have received Oscar nominations.

SEE ALSO: Here's a big sign the Oscars are out of touch with audiences — the acting performances everyone's talking about probably won't win

"Battle of the Sexes"

A look at the legendary tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King earned acting nominations for Steve Carell and Emma Stone at the Golden Globes, but when it came Oscar time both were snubbed — which I honestly don't have a problem with.

But the movie should have received a nod in the production design and/or editing category.

Its authentic early 1970s look was spot on and throughout its editing telling the journey of Riggs and King leading up to their big match was perfect. And the way the finale was cut is fantastic. Tennis is a tough sport to portray correctly on screen, and editor Pamela Martin cut the match sequence better than most ever have. 

"Girls Trip"

There's always one actor that everyone gets behind for an Oscar nom and when it doesn't happen the shock just elevates that actor's exposure, and Tiffany Haddish is the latest example.

The "Girls Trip" standout star has gone from obscurity to a pop culture household name. She's hosted "Saturday Night Live" and Paul Thomas Anderson wants to work with her. Yes, it's a bummer she didn't get the Oscar nomination, but we think she's going to be just fine.

"Good Time"

The Safdie brothers' gritty heist-gone-wrong movie showed the mainstream what this duo had been doing in the low budget world for years — and just how great Robert Pattinson is — but where the movie should have found Oscar love is on its music side.

Daniel Lopatin's (aka Oneohtrix Point Never) trippy score matches the movie's fast-paced movement and sucks you in deeper to Connie's crazy night.

• The Bentley Bentayga debuted in 2016.
• The Bentayga is powered by a 600 horsepower, twin-turbocharged W12 engine.
• The Bentley SUV can hit 60 mph in 4.0 seconds and reach a top speed of 187 mph.
• The 2018 Bentley Bentayga starts at $195,000. 

The Bentley Bentayga is one of the most talked-about cars in recent memory that doesn't carry Ferrari's prancing stallion or one of Tesla's battery packs.

With global demand for SUVs unyielding, it was only a matter of time before the world's most exclusive automakers joined in on the action.  

High-end luxury SUVs have been on the market for as longs there's been luxury cars and SUVs. These days, Range Rover is an unstoppable sales juggernaut, while the Mercedes-Benz G-Class has long shed its utilitarian upbringing to become a status symbol for world's well-heeled elite. 

But it wasn't until the Bentayga's debut in 2016 that the era of the ultra-luxury SUV began. By the end of 2018, the Bentley SUV will be joined by both the Rolls-Royce Cullinan and the Lamborghini Urus.

In late 2016, Bentley dropped off a white Bentayga for Business Insider to check out.  Even though we were able to shoot photos, scheduling restraints did not afford us enough driving time to properly evaluate the vehicle. So Bentley gave us another bite at the apple a couple of months ago when it loaned us another Bentayga — a 2018 model in Rubino Red.

But this time around, we were able to spend nearly a week with the Bentayga. The 2018 Bentley Bentayga starts at $195,000 but $48,120 in options and a $2,725 destination fee pushed the as-tested price to $245,845. 

Here's a closer look at the Bentley Bentayga:

SEE ALSO: We drove the $136,000 Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon and finally understand why it's an automotive legend

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Here it is! Our 2018 Bentley Bentayga test car. A freak snow storm the night before left the roads and our Rubino Red Bentayga covered in a thick layer of salt residue.

For an unobstructed view of the Bentayga, here's the test car we checked out in late 2016. And it's obvious this thing is a Bentley, You couldn't possibly confuse it with anything else. The front fascia is punctuated by Bentley's corporate mesh grille and spherical headlights.

The production Bentayga's styling is the work of former Bentley design boss Luc Donckerwolke and head of exterior design SangYup Lee. Both have since been poached by Hyundai's new Genesis luxury brand.

• Taraji P. Henson is one of the few Hollywood stars interviewed by Ryan Seacrest on the Oscars red carpet to take a dig at him following the sexual misconduct allegations against him.
• The actress told him, "The universe has a way of taking care of the good people," then flicked his chin.
• Henson has since said that her comments were "misconstrued" and she "absolutely" supports Seacrest.

Ryan Seacrest did his usual red carpet coverage of the Oscars on Sunday for E!, but there was some controversy over that decision this year, as sexual misconduct allegations are hanging over his head.

Seacrest was on the red carpet starting at 5 p.m. ET interviewing stars and getting big names like Oscar nominees Allison Janney and Mary J. Blige to come and talk to him. But he wasn't able to escape some shade from Taraji P. Henson.

While being interviewed by Seacrest, the actress answered a question by saying, "You know what, the universe has a way of taking care of the good people, you know what I mean?" Then she flicked his chin. While she wasn't overtly mentioning the allegations against Seacrest, her look and tone clearly conveyed what she was talking about.

Seacrest answered by saying, "I agree."

The little dig is certain to make headlines as so far Henson is the only star to seemingly address the accusations against Seacrest.

Before Seacrest went on air Sunday on the Oscars red carpet, a report surfaced that E! would be on a 30-second delay to make sure to catch anything shocking that could be said to Seacrest. However, a network spokesperson denied the report, and said it was "business as usual."

Here are some of the reactions to Henson's comment on Twitter:

UPDATE: Later Sunday evening, Henson was asked by People about her comments to Seacrest, which instantly went viral. She said that her comments were "misconstrued" and she "absolutely" supports him. But what was with that whole flicking his chin thing about?

“I did it to keep his chin up," she told People. "It’s an awkward position to be in. He’s been cleared but anyone can say anything."

Seacrest also tweeted this on Sunday, thanking Henson for coming by to see him on the red carpet.

SEE ALSO: How Jennifer Lawrence's "Red Sparrow" director helped get her comfortable with the sexually explicit role

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: You can connect all 9 Best Picture Oscar nominees with actors they have in common — here's how

Hollywood had its biggest night of the year Sunday, with the 90th Academy Awards ceremony, and the top awards of the night went to the expected winners.

Guillermo del Toro took home an Oscar for directing "The Shape of Water," Gary Oldman won best actor for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in "Darkest Hour," and Frances McDormand won best actress for her role in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri."

Best picture went to "The Shape of Water."

The first winner of the night was Sam Rockwell, who won best supporting actor for his role as a corrupt cop in "Three Billboards."

The next major Oscar of the night went to Allison Janney for her role as the figure skater Tonya Harding's mother in the biographical comedy "I, Tonya."

"Call Me by Your Name" won best adapted screenplay for the writer James Ivory, and Jordan Peele won best original screenplay for "Get Out." After 14 nominations, the legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins finally won an Oscar for his work on "Blade Runner 2049," despite "Dunkirk" being the favorite to win the award.

Below are all the Oscar winners, which we'll update live as the show goes on:

SEE ALSO: 10 movies that tragically got zero Oscar nominations — and why they really should have

Best supporting actor

Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project”
Woody Harrelson, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Richard Jenkins, “The Shape of Water”
Christopher Plummer, “All the Money in the World”
Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” - WINNER

Makeup and hair

“Darkest Hour,” Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski, Lucy Sibbick - WINNER
“Victoria and Abdul,” Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard
“Wonder,” Arjen Tuiten

Costume design

“Beauty and the Beast,” Jacqueline Durran
“Darkest Hour,” Jacqueline Durran
“Phantom Thread,” Mark Bridges - WINNER
“The Shape of Water,” Luis Sequeira
“Victoria and Abdul,” Consolata Boyle

• Jimmy Kimmel opened the 90th Academy Awards with thoughts on Harvey Weinstein and the nominated movies.
• He also said the men in Hollywood should use the Oscar statue as an example of how to behave.

To open the 90th Academy Awards, host Jimmy Kimmel had the arduous task of addressing everything that had happened since last year's Oscars.

From the best picture blunder that ended last year's show, to the recent #MeToo Movement, there was a lot to cover in the opening monologue. But the late-night host pulled it off impressively and with his usual dry humor.

Looking back on the best-picture fiasco, Kimmel asked the nominees to not "get up right way" if they heard their name called. This was a reference to the close-to-two-minutes that "La La Land" was thought to be the winner of best picture last year before it was revealed that it was, in fact, "Moonlight."

But Kimmel's juicy material came when talked about Harvey Weinstein being kicked out of the Academy following the dozens of sexual misconduct allegations against him, and the wave of allegations against other powerful men in the industry after that. 

Kimmel actually used a giant statue of the Oscar award on the stage next to him as a example of how men in Hollywood should act going forward.

"Oscar is the most respected man in Hollywood, he keeps his hands where you can see them, never says a rude word, and has no penis at all. That’s the kind of men we need," he said. 

Kimmel also added, "Here’s how clueless Hollywood is about women: We made a movie called 'What Women Want' and it starred Mel Gibson."

Kimmel then addressed the pay gap controversy surrounding the movie “All the Money in the World,” in which it was reported Mark Wahlberg made much, much more than his costar Michelle Williams while doing reshoots of the movie after Kevin Spacey was replaced by Christopher Plummer (who is nominated for best supporting actor).

“This one shook me because if we can’t trust agents, who can we trust,” Kimmel joked after pointing out that Wahlberg and Williams were represented by the same talent agency.

Kimmel also threw out some political jokes. The one that landed the best was talking about the Oscar-nominated movie, "Call Me by Your Name." Pointing out that it didn't make a lot of money at the box office, he said, "We don’t make movies like 'Call Me by Your Name' to make money, we make them to upset Mike Pence."

Here's Kimmel's entire opening:

SEE ALSO: Actress Taraji P. Henson threw a little dig at Ryan Seacrest on the Oscars red carpet in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against him

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: You can connect all 9 Best Picture Oscar nominees with actors they have in common — here's how

• Chicken tenders are back in a big way.
• We tried chicken tenders from several major fast-food chains to find out whose are the best.
• McDonald's new tenders are a massive improvement and make it into the top three, but Chick-fil-A still comes out on top. 

The humble chicken tender — or chicken fingers, in some circles — is making a comeback. 

Chicken tenders are the most glorious incarnation of handheld fried chicken. They're heftier than nuggets, simpler than wings, ideologically purer than boneless wings. The adoration for chicken tenders is universal, bridging the spans of age and class alike — the great equalizers, so they say, are death, taxes, and tenders. With McDonald'sresurrecting them on their menu and Wendy's introducing theirs, the time for tenders has come. 

A handful of major fast-food chains offer tenders, and we decided to put them all to the test to see which con-tender (sorry) reaches the top of the tourney.

SEE ALSO: We visited the fastest-growing restaurant chain in America — and what we discovered should terrify KFC and Chick-fil-A

DON'T MISS: We compared salads from McDonald's, Burger King, Chick-fil-A, and Wendy's — and the results were shocking

We have seven chains duking it out: Chick-fil-A, Dairy Queen, KFC, McDonald's, Popeyes, Carl's Jr., and Wendy's.

That's a lot of chicken.

7. Dairy Queen

We all knew someone had to come last, and to be honest, most knew it was going to be Dairy Queen.

Are they terribly awful? No. But Dairy Queen's roots lie in, well, dairy, and it's what it does best. We all love a Blizzard — but DQ's food is often lacking, both in quality and direction. Its tenders have some crunch from their thick breading, but it overpowers the chicken.

It's strangely doughy in taste, and the entire tender is meek — and it's definitely not inheriting the earth. At best they're slightly better than expectations, but blandly mediocre nonetheless.