It sounds like the plot of a good murder mystery.... one by one, technology bloggers in cities across America are turning up dead. Who or what is behind the killing of these freelance Internet journalists? Work. Mystery solved.

Unfortunately, this is real. And there's no serial killer orchestrating the murders. Instead, these freelancers are pulling all-nighters to stay competitive in a global 24/7 economy, stressing to meet daily deadlines and are literally working themselves to death. At least, that's one theory for the untimely blogger deaths, as mentioned in an article by Matt Richtel in The New York Times. It is reported that two well-known bloggers recently died - both from heart-related episodes, while a third technology blogger narrowly survived a heart attack in December.

Of course, the fact that they are all bloggers is a convenient similarity. The truth is that almost any freelance work will eventually put a kink in your nightly sleep routine and take its toll on you. You'll soon be able to count the number of hours you have selpt on one hand. Why? As Richtel notes, "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." In other words, always-on technology in an always-demanding global economy begs that we work constantly; and the more time we work, the less time we take for ourselves.

Is it necessarily a bad thing? Well, untimely demise aside, working for yourself in a job you love can't be all bad. Most freelancers will be quick to defend the occassional all-night work session as part of the sacrifice for being your own boss. As always, the trick is to find balance (and maybe lay off the junk food during those late night work sessions!). How do you find balance? Has your health suffered becuase of long work hours? Let us know what you think.