Brain Lab
About 45%
of dementia cases worldwide are potentially preventable by addressing 14 modifiable risk factors, from less education in early life to hearing loss, high blood pressure and social isolation later on.
What it does not show: A population estimate, not a promise for one person: no single change is decisive, and it does not mean the other 55% is fixed by genes alone.
Source: Livingston, G., Huntley, J., Liu, K. Y., et al. (2024). Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 report of the Lancet standing Commission. The Lancet, 404(10452), 572–628. doi.org
Our guide: How to reduce your dementia risk
Brain Lab
6.0%
of U.S. adults, about 15.5 million people, reported a current ADHD diagnosis in a CDC survey of 7,046 adults in October and November 2023.
What it does not show: Self-reported diagnoses on a weighted online panel, not diagnostic interviews, so it is not a count of every adult with ADHD.
Source: Staley, B. S., Robinson, L. R., Claussen, A. H., et al. (2024). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder diagnosis, treatment, and telehealth use in adults: National Center for Health Statistics Rapid Surveys System, United States, October–November 2023. MMWR, 73(40), 890–895. www.cdc.gov
Our guide: Why adult ADHD goes undiagnosed
Brain Lab
1 in 31
8-year-olds (3.2%) were identified with autism across 16 U.S. monitoring sites in 2022, up from 1 in 36 in 2020.
What it does not show: Counts children identified in health and school records at those sites; much of the rise is thought to reflect better recognition.
Source: Shaw, K. A., et al. (2025). Prevalence and early identification of autism spectrum disorder among children aged 4 and 8 years: Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 16 sites, United States, 2022. MMWR Surveillance Summaries, 74(SS-2). www.cdc.gov
Our guide: Why adult autism goes unrecognized
Brain Lab
2.21%
of U.S. adults aged 18 to 84, about 5.4 million people, are estimated to be autistic.
What it does not show: Modeled from child rates and adjusted for mortality: no system counts autistic adults directly, and the estimate for women is widely thought to be low.
Source: Dietz, P. M., Rose, C. E., McArthur, D., & Maenner, M. (2020). National and state estimates of adults with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 50(12), 4258–4266. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Our guide: Why adult autism goes unrecognized
Brain Lab
7+ hours
of sleep a night, on a regular basis, is the amount sleep scientists recommend for adults aged 18 to 60.
What it does not show: A population recommendation: it does not set one person’s sleep need, and some people need more.
Source: Watson, N. F., Badr, M. S., Belenky, G., et al. (2015). Recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult: A joint consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society. Sleep, 38(6), 843–844. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Our guide: Sleep Need Calculator
Behavior Lab
9% to 82%
of people met the impostor-feelings threshold across 62 studies of 14,161 participants, depending on the group studied and the cutoff used.
What it does not show: The range is the finding: the often repeated “70% of people” is an old clinical guess, not a measured rate.
Source: Bravata, D. M., Watts, S. A., Keefer, A. L., et al. (2020). Prevalence, predictors, and treatment of impostor syndrome: A systematic review. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 35(4), 1252–1275. doi.org
Our guide: Why competent people feel like frauds
Life Dashboard
About half
of the 61.5 million U.S. adults (23.4%) with a mental illness in 2024 received any mental health treatment that year: 52.1%.
What it does not show: A national survey of self-reported treatment; SAMHSA notes that 2024 questionnaire changes limit comparison with earlier years.
Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2025). Key substance use and mental health indicators in the United States: Results from the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. www.samhsa.gov
Our guide: Why so many adults with depression never get help
If you are in the U.S. and thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Outside the U.S., contact your local emergency number.
Life Dashboard
1 in 6
people worldwide experience loneliness, and loneliness is linked to an estimated 871,000 deaths a year.
What it does not show: Global estimates from many surveys; loneliness is most common among adolescents and young adults and in lower-income countries.
Source: World Health Organization. (2025). From loneliness to social connection: Charting a path to healthier societies. Report of the WHO Commission on Social Connection. www.who.int
Our guide: Loneliness vs. social isolation
Life Dashboard
3 dimensions
define burnout in the World Health Organization’s ICD-11: exhaustion, mental distance or cynicism about one’s job, and reduced professional efficacy.
What it does not show: WHO calls burnout an occupational phenomenon, not a medical condition, and gives no symptom count or cutoff.
Source: World Health Organization. (2019, May 28). Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: International Classification of Diseases. www.who.int
Our guide: Burnout signs
Family Lab
75%
of children reach each milestone by the age it is listed in the CDC’s checklists, since the 2022 revision. Before, many milestones sat at the age only half of children had reached.
What it does not show: A missed milestone is worth raising with a child’s doctor, but it is not a diagnosis.
Source: Zubler, J. M., Wiggins, L. D., Macias, M. M., et al. (2022). Evidence-informed milestones for developmental surveillance tools. Pediatrics, 149(3), e2021052138. doi.org
Our guide: Child development milestones
Family Lab
Up to 95%
of U.S. teens aged 13 to 17 use a social media platform, and more than a third say they use it “almost constantly.”
What it does not show: A public-health advisory drawing on surveys; it does not show that social media caused any one teen’s symptoms.
Source: Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. (2023). Social media and youth mental health: The U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory. www.hhs.gov
Our guide: Screen time for teenagers
Crossroads Lab
d ≈ 0.93
is the average gap between men and women on the “things versus people” interest axis, in a meta-analysis of interest inventories from over 500,000 people.
What it does not show: An average across groups, not a rule for any one person: the two groups overlap a great deal.
Source: Su, R., Rounds, J., & Armstrong, P. I. (2009). Men and things, women and people: A meta-analysis of sex differences in interests. Psychological Bulletin, 135(6), 859–884. doi.org
Our guide: What is a Holland code?