Die while having fun

I recently came across this article.

excerpt:

Let's start with death by gaming

Just a few weeks ago, a Chinese video gamer keeled over after a three-day binge. The Beijing news reported this poor 30-year-old died from exhaustion. While it's hard to take everything reported by the state-run Chinese news service literally, two years earlier, a South Korean man, age 28, died after a 50-hour online gaming session.

Let's just assume that he, too, died of exhaustion. Reta Wright-Kinghorn, a Polysomnographic Research Coordinator at the University of Washington Sleep Medicine Center, explained what might have happened.

Our bodies need sleep, not necessarily for resting, like many of us assume. Rather, during slumber, our bodies regulate our metabolisms and restore the daily wear and tear on muscles and bones. It's even more important for our brains, which are busy when we sleep, even if experts aren't entirely sure what they're busy doing.

Whoa! I used to play Diablo for several (really several) hours straight. Then go to school. That was tough! No more over-playing for me. Although it will be really hard to keep that promise once I get a Guitar Hero for Wii.