BEWARE THE HEALTH RISKS OF BLOGGING!

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 that won’t stop the story from rolling on as if these things have been proven! Blogging can be stressful, but it’s not digging ditches. If you think otherwise, you’ve never dug a ditch. (Via Memeorandum). Which is not to say that bloggers shouldn’t get away from the computer now and then. Maybe even yoga for geeks!

Plus this: “I guess it’s all individual but for God’s sake if it’s killing you go work for the Ny Times, seems to be a cakewalk over there.” Indeed.

Best take: “I hear waitressing is kinda tough.”

And yeah, I’m linking to the New York Times a lot this morning. Just trying to help ’em out!

MORE: Laughing at death. And more death-defiance here. Say, now that blogging turns out to be such a highly dangerous endeavor, will that mean the end of “chickenhawk” slurs in the blogosphere?