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Struggling to fall asleep is irritating. Struggling to get enough sleep is at least partially debilitating. Research shows: People who sleep five to six hours are almost 20 percent less productive than people who sleep seven to eight hours per night. People who only get six hours of sleep per night have greater difficulty performing any task that requires focus, deep thinking, or problem-solving. People chronically sleep-deprived (think six hours or less) have a much harder time performing complicated tasks. So, yeah: Performing at your best requires getting enough sleep. But what if you struggle to fall asleep? Here are three techniques sleep science says you should definitely try. The 4-7-8 method Heres how it works. First, place the tip of your tongue against your two upper front teeth, and keep it there. (The goal is to inhale and exhale around your tongue.) Then: Breathe in through your nose while you count to four. Hold your breath while you count to seven. Purse your lips and exhaleyou should make a whooshing soundwhile you count to eight. Repeat up to four times. While inhaling and exhaling deeplyand worse yet, holding your breath in betweensounds like it will make you less sleepy, that pattern activates your parasympathetic nervous system and helps switch your body to rest mode. Thats especially important if you feel stressed, since anxiety shifts your sympathetic nervous system (think fight or flight) into overdrive. Kick-starting your parasympathetic nervous system helps counteract that effect. And gives you something else to think about in the process.Keep in mind practice is the key. The 4-7-8 method may not help you fall asleep faster the first few times. But the more you use it, the more youll train yourself to relax. And even if you dont fall asleep quicker, you will feel a little less stressed and anxious. A 2022 study published in Physiological Reports found that 4-7-8 breathing reduced heart rate and blood pressure for several minutes. Youll feel calmer, more grounded, and better able to relax and let go. So, as with using the physiological sigh, you can also use the 4-7-8 method to regain focus when you feel anxious. The military method The military method is a two-minute routine created by the Navy Pre-Flight School to help pilots fall asleep. Within six weeks, 96 percent of the pilots could fall asleep within two minutes or less, even if they were sitting in a chair, listening to a recording of machine-gun fire, and had just drunk coffee. Heres how it works: Relax your entire face. Close your eyes. Breathe slowly and deeply. Then slowly relax all of your face muscles. (If it helps, start with your forehead muscles and work your way down.) Relax your jaw, your cheeks, your mouth, your tongue, everything. Including your eyes; let them go. Drop your shoulders and hands. Let go of any tension. Relax your neck, your traps; feel yourself sinking into the chair or bed. Then start at the top of your right arm, and slowly relax your biceps, forearms, and hands. Repeat on the other side. And dont forget to keep breathing slowly and deeply. Exhale and relax your chest. With your shoulders and arms relaxed, that should be easy. Relax your legs. Start with your right thigh; let it sink into the chair or bed. Then do the same with your calf, ankle, and foot. Repeat the process with your left leg. Now clear your mind. Granted, its hard to not think about anything. (I end up thinking about not thinking about anything.) If thats you, try holding an image in your mind. Choose something relaxing. Picture yourself lying comfortably in darkness. But if that doesnt work Try repeating the words Dont think for 10 seconds. If nothing else, that should help distract you from thinking about whatever it is that might otherwise keep you awake. Like the 4-7-8 method, the military method may take practice. Remember, it took pilots up to six weeks to regularly fall asleep within two minutes. But once youve gained the skill . . . The 10-3-2-1 method This routine takes a little longer to execute; think of it as daylong sleep prep. As Jess Andrade describes: 10: Stop drinking caffeine 10 hours before you plan to go to sleep to clear the stimulatory effect from your bloodstream. 3: Eat your last big meal (or last drink of alcohol) three hours prior to reduce reflux and ensure alcohol doesnt impair your natural sleep cycle. 2: Create a to-do list for the next day two hours prior; as Getting Things Done author David Allen says, Your head is for having ideas, not holding ideas. Without exception, you will feel better if you get stuff out of your head. 1: Stop using screens one hour before you go to sleep, both to reduce exposure to blue light and to disengage. Granted, this technique takes more time and effort. Then again, combining the 10-3-2-1 method with the military or 4-7-8 method can only increase your odds of falling asleep quickly. Which increases the odds youll get sleep better and hopefully longer tonight. And be able to perform at your best tomorrow.
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E-Commerce
Chances are good that many investors are happy today is a holiday, and thus the stock markets are closed. Thats because over the weekend, President Donald Trump announced the threat of new tariffs levied against Americas most prominent European allies. But this time, Trumps tariff threats arent driven by trade imbalances. Instead, they center around the presidents desire to acquire ownership of Greenland. Heres what you need to know, including how assets that are trading todaygold and cryptocurrencyare reacting. Whats happened? On Saturday, Trump took to social media to announce that he would impose additional tariffs on eight European nations that have spoken out against his plan to acquire Greenland from the Kingdom of Denmark. The president announced that, beginning on February 1st, goods from those nations will be charged an additional 10% tariff when they enter the United States. The nations Trump threatened to levy the additional tariffs against include: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. But Trump didnt stop there. He also announced that those additional 10% tariffs would rise to 25% on June 1 and will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland. Currently, there is already a 10% tariff on goods from the United Kingdom and a 15% tariff on goods from the other countries Trump cited. The additional Greenland tariffs would raise the levies on goods from those countries to at least 25% next month and at least 40% in June. Trumps stated reason for wanting Greenland to become part of the United States is its strategic national security importancethe landmass lies directly between North America and Russia. However, Greenland is also home to vast mineral deposits and other natural resources with significant market value. Trumps desire to acquire Greenland is deeply unpopular with the American public, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found this month, with just 17% of respondents approving of the goal. A 2025 Verian poll of Greenlanders found that an overwhelming 85% of respondents said they did not want their homeland to become part of the United States. How has Europe responded? European leaders are in crisis mode. Despite leaders on the continent telling President Trump that Greenland is not for sale, Trumps resolve on acquiring the Danish territory has only strengthened. On Sunday, the European Council (EC) of the European Union issued a definitive statement on the matter. Territorial integrity and sovereignty are fundamental principles of international law. They are essential for Europe and for the international community as a whole, European Council president António Luís Santos da Costa and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen wrote. They added, The EU stands in full solidarity with Denmark and the people of Greenland. Dialogue remains essential, and we are committed to building on the process begun already last week between the Kingdom of Denmark and the US. Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty. How had gold reacted? Geopolitical uncertainties tend to send investors fleeing from more volatile assets, such as stocks, to safer ones, such as gold. And Trumps weekend escalation over Greenland is following this trend. While stock markets are closed today in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, assets such as gold and other precious metals are being traded. Gold, particularly, is seen as a safe-haven asset that investors flee to in times of uncertainty. As of the time of this writing, gold is currently at an all-time high of $4,671.10 per ounce. Silver is also at an all-time high of $93.20 per ounce. How have Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies reacted? Precious metals arent the only assets being traded today. Unlike the stock markets, which are closed on federal holidays, cryptocurrencies trade 24/7. And unlike gold, cryptocurrencies are generally not seen as safe-haven assets. Cryptocurrencies are historically volatile in the best of times. When geopolitical uncertainties hit, crypto tends to sell off as investors take profits and move into safe-haven assets. As of this writing, most major cryptocurrencies are retreating amid the rising geopolitical and economic uncertainty between America and its European allies. Crypto king Bitcoin is currently down more than 2% to $93,170 per coin. Ethereum is down nearly 3%, XRP is down nearly 4%, and Solana is down nearly 6%. Memecoin Doge is down nearly 7%. Where do things go from here? Right now, no one can say where Trumps Greenland escalations go from here. Most of the political establishment in America and the overwhelming majority of the international community are deeply concerned about the presidents insistence on acquiring the landmass. Numerous observers, including European leaders, have said that Trumps threats could undermine the very foundation of NATO, of which the U.S., Greenland, and European countries are part. Right now, European leaders are debating how to respond to Trumps threats if the president does not back down. If diplomatic efforts fail, the next most likely step would be for Europe to threaten economic countermeasures against America, including tariffs of its own on American goods, and perhaps even invoking what is colloquially called the big bazookaofficially known as the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI). As CNBC noted, the ACI is a trade policy tool in the EU’s arsenal designed to counter coercion by economically and militarily powerful countries. The ACI is a deterrent instrument that, if enacted, could restrict not just trade with a country, but also place a cessation on foreign investment and intellectual property rights. The ACI was created in 2023, but it has never been enacted before. All eyes will be on Trump when he is in Europe on Wednesday, where he will address world and business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
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E-Commerce
Each year on the holiday that bears his name, Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered for his immense contributions to the struggle for racial equality. What is less often remembered but equally important is that King saw the fight for racial equality as deeply intertwined with economic justice. To address inequalityand out of growing concern for how automation might displace workersKing became an early advocate for universal basic income. Under universal basic income, the government provides direct cash payments to all citizens to help them afford lifes expenses. In recent years, more than a dozen U.S. cities have run universal basic income programs, often smaller or pilot programs that have offered guaranteed basic incomes to select groups of needy residents. As political scientists, we have followed these experiments closely. One of us recently co-authored a study which found that universal basic income is generally popular. In two out of three surveys analyzed, majorities of white Americans supported a universal basic income proposal. Support is particularly high among those with low incomes. Kings intuition was that white people with lower incomes would support this type of policy because they could also benefit from it. In 1967, King argued, It seems to me that the Civil Rights Movement must now begin to organize for the guaranteed annual income . . . which I believe will go a long, long way toward dealing with the Negros economic problem and the economic problem with many other poor people confronting our nation. But there is one notable group that does not support universal basic income: those with higher levels of racial resentment. Racial resentment is a scale that social scientists have used to describe and measure anti-Black prejudice since the 1980s. Notably, in our research, whites with higher levels of racial resentment and higher incomes are especially inclined to oppose universal basic income. As King well knew, this segment of Americans can create powerful opposition. Economic self-interest can trump resentment At the same time, the results of the study also suggest that coalition building is possible, even among the racially resentful. Economic status matters. Racially resentful whites with lower incomes tend to be supportive of universal basic income. In short, self-interest seems to trump racial resentment. This is consistent with Kings idea of how an economic coalition could be built and pave the way toward racial progress. Income is not the only thing that shapes attitudes, however. Some of the strongest supporters of universal basic income are those who have higher incomes but low levels of racial resentment. This suggests an opportunity to build coalitions across economic lines, something King believed was necessary. The rich must not ignore the poor, he argued in his Nobel Peace Prize lecture, because both rich and poor are tied in a single garment of destiny. Our data shows that this is possible. This approach to coalition building is also suggested by our earlier research. Using American National Election Studies surveys from 2004-2016, we found that for white Americans, racial resentment predicted lower support for social welfare policies. But we also found that economic position mattered, too. Economic need can unite white Americans in support of more generous welfare policies, including among some who are racially prejudiced. At a minimum, this suggests that racial resentment does not necessarily prevent white Americans from supporting policies that would also benefit Black Americans. Building lasting coalitions During his career as an activist in the 1950s and 1960s, King struggled with building long-term, multiracial coalitions. He understood that many forms of racial prejudice could undermine his work. He therefore sought strategies that could forge alliances across lines of difference. He helped build coalitions of poor and working-class Americans, including those who are white. He was not so naive as to think that shared economic progress would eliminate racial prejudice, but he saw it as a place to start. Currently, the nation faces an affordability crisis, and artificial intelligence poses new threats to jobs. These factors have increased calls for universal basic income. Racial prejudice continues to fuel opposition to universal basic income, as well as other forms of social welfare. But our research suggests that this is not insurmountable. As King knew, progress toward economic equality is not inevitable. But, as his legacy reminds us, progress does remain possible through organizing around shared interests. Tarah Williams is an assistant professor of political science at Allegheny College and Andrew Bloeser is an associate professor of political science; Director, Center for Political Participation at Allegheny College. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
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