The biggest threat facing middle-age men isn't smoking or obesity. It's loneliness.

[TexasTowelie]

2. Kudos for volunteering!

I think what makes it rougher is if middle-aged man loses a job and can't find a way to reenter the workforce without taking a drastic salary cut. That cuts in two different ways: 1) it results in a loss of camaraderie with the other associates and in some severance agreements it actually stipulates that you are not supposed to have any contact with current employees of the company, and 2) it also strikes at the ego when men place a certain value upon their earning capacity and they have to reduce the amount of socializing because of that loss--be it going to church less often because of the requests for donations or going to bars less frequently to spend money.