Blogging may be bad for your health

Blogging may be bad for your health


Pressure to publish 'new and exciting facts' takes its toll

Some of the blogging community are worried that blogging for a living could be bad for your health.

The constant need to publish new and exciting facts is putting stress on successful bloggers, and the recent deaths from heart attacks of three popular writers is causing something of a rethink in the industry.

"I haven't died yet," Michael Arrington, founder and co-editor of TechCrunch, told The New York Times.

"At some point, I'll have a nervous breakdown and be admitted to hospital, or something else will happen. This is not sustainable."

Arrington claimed that he has gained 30 pounds and developed a severe sleeping disorder over the past three years as a result of his job.

Two other technology bloggers, Russell Shaw, 60, and Marc Orchant, 50, have died of heart failures. While blogging has not been directly linked to their deaths, the stress of churning out thousands of words a day may have been a factor.

"There is no time ever, including when you're sleeping, when you're not worried about missing a story," said Arrington.

"Wouldn't it be great if we said that no blogger or journalist could write a story between 8pm Pacific time and dawn? Then we could all take a break. But that's never going to happen."