Isolation and loneliness is the scourge of our later years but older men seem to have a profound struggle to create social connections and while there may be several reasons for this high suicide rate, some Ontario men aged 80 and older see no reason to live.

We hear one man's personal experience and his discovery of Men's Sheds, an organization that helps men get socially connected. A PhD candidate at B.C.'s Simon Fraser University explains the incredible value of 'generativity" in our later years and Dr. David Conn, a psychiatrist at Baycrest Centre, helps us understand suicide in older men and why it doesn't have to end this way.

Guests: Alan Marrison of Men's Sheds; Eireann O'Dea, PhD, Simon Fraser University and Dr. David Conn, Psychiatrist at Baycrest Centre.

The full transcript of this episode is available in Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or on the episode page at thestar.com/podcasts/how-to-live-100-or-die-trying

This episode was produced by Moira Welsh, Julia De Laurentiis Johnston, Matthew Hearn and Sean Pattendon. It was produced with the support of a journalism fellowship from The Gerontological Society of America, The Journalists Network on Generations and The Silver Century Foundation.

Hands up if you worry you'll outlive your money. Longevity is great - if the bills get paid and a lot of people in their 70s are still on the job because they need the money. The future of work is both perilous and potent, a chance to merge elders' crystallized intelligence with the incoming generations.

What happens when the CEO develops dementia and doesn't want to leave the C-Suite? Or, if you have to work to survive but your feet can't stand another eight-hour shift? What if you want to stay in the office game for creativity and relevance? And, what about the millennials who want your job? We examine the brave new world of intergenerational workplace longevity whether we can do the job, want the job or even need the job.

GUESTS: Beth Truesdale, co-editor of Over Time: America's Aging Workforce and the Future of Working Longer; Laura Tamblyn Watts, author of Let's Talk About Aging Parents: A Real-Life Guide to Solving Problems with 27 Essential Conversations.

What if we all looked forward to growing old? Embracing age is a new trend among some millennials and really, why not? That cohort has already given us body positivity, so aiming high, in years, is surely the next trend. Unless it crashes into the wall of ageism. And ageism, dear listeners, is the happiness killer coming for us all.

Ageism 101: It seeps into every aspect of our lives, from invisibility to careers and relationships but what many do not know is that ageism can lead also to depression and premature death. In a world growing older, we examine the impact of age prejudice in a conversation that challenges and inspires.

Guests:

Mary Hynes, advocate for older adults with the lived experience of 80 years; Kyrié Carpenter, "Crone-in-Training" and co-founder of Old School Hub; and Dr. Samir Sinha, geriatrician, director of health policy research at the National Institute on Ageing.

The Toronto Star's Moira Welsh hosts How to Live to 100 or Die Trying, an uplifting, shocking, and illuminating conversation for all ages on growing older. You'll hear from a 40-something football star turned mobility mentor, a skateboarding impresario focused on death, but a good one. And a scientist who says he can measure biological age. But don't fear the reaper because he also shares a startling secret to longevity. We give traditional topics like ageism a millennial twist and go deep into the future of work. Call it freedom 75. Keeping it real throughout is blunt insight from a geriatrician who says most of that data on your wearable device is poppycock. It's quite a ride, this arc of life. You can find it on thestar.com or wherever you listen, to your favourite podcasts.