Mid Life Question:

► While the Reggie Perrin stereotype is richly comic, it isn't difficult to see that in real-life cases such drastic behavior may be motivated by deeper issues that are all too serious. Many of us are aware of feelings of disillusionment and irritability setting in in middle age, attributable perhaps to a heightened sense of our own mortality and/or feelings of dissatisfaction at the way life has turned out. Very often such gloomy insights are brought on by a specific trigger: a redundancy or divorce, perhaps, or a more trivial event like a milestone birthday.
► Many men find the changes in sexual function which come with getting older unsettling.
► By middle age, men may have achieved most of their realistic goals and be unclear about their future direction. Relationships may also change, and are often adversely affected, especially when children leave the parental home.
► Men are better educated, healthier and likely to live longer when they enter mid-life than at any time in the past. This can lead to a greater degree of reflection, and often, introspection, on what has happened during the first part of life and what the future holds.
► Sleep may be another factor.