I’m a self-confessed blogoholic and feel guilty when I neglect blogging because of work and other demands on my time. This week has been like that, and I expect the next couple of weeks to be the same too.

If you are as addicted as me, then please do read this story, it’s a cautionary tale and describes how writers in America have been blogging till they drop – literally.

However, America has a different blogging culture where writers are paid and on some of the bigger sites, they can earn between $30,000 – $70,000 a year or more. But the pressure is intense and speed is of the essence. If a blogger is beaten by a millisecond, someone else’s post on the subject will bring in the audience, the links and the bigger share of the ad revenue.

Here are some extracts from the New York Times article:

A growing work force of home-office laborers and entrepreneurs, armed with computers and smartphones and wired to the hilt, are toiling under great physical and emotional stress created by the around-the-clock Internet economy that demands a constant stream of news and comment.

Two weeks ago in North Lauderdale, Fla., funeral services were held for Russell Shaw, a prolific blogger on technology subjects who died at 60 of a heart attack. In December, another tech blogger, Marc Orchant, died at 50 of a massive coronary. A third, Om Malik, 41, survived a heart attack in December.

Other bloggers complain of weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing for a news and information cycle that is as always-on as the Internet.

To be sure, there is no official diagnosis of death by blogging, and the premature demise of two people obviously does not qualify as an epidemic. There is also no certainty that the stress of the work contributed to their deaths. But friends and family of the deceased, and fellow information workers, say those deaths have them thinking about the dangers of their work style.

So please, don’t forget to take time to chill out – I’ll try and remember to do the same. And apologies to my regular bloggers for not visiting your site this week, I will get round to it when I can.