Things in Australia seem a tad better than elsewhere in the world. Pay conditions here are pretty good and I don't know of anyone who does it genuinely tough working as a LAME here. There are some stats on the CASA website
www.casa.gov.au that indicate that the five thousand or so LAME's in AUS have a mean age of mid fifties.
I think stress is certainly a big one, I suffer stress related hypertension at age 28, and already look forward to finding a more plesant way to afford myself a decent lifestyle.
It has been my experience that aviation people (well pilots and engineers at least) tend to be big drinkers, anyone else noticed this one?