A Chinese football fan died after going 11 nights without sleep as he tried to watch every single kick of the ball of Euro 2012.
Jiang Xiaoshan, said to be supporting England and France in the tournament, died of exhaustion on Tuesday morning.
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Because of the time difference, he reportedly stayed up each night with friends and then went to work the following day. Following the Ireland versus Italy match, he went back to his Changsha home at 5 am on Tuesday, had a shower, fell asleep and never woke up.
Friends said the news of his death came as a shock, as he lived a ‘relatively healthy life’, and had played football for his university team just a couple of years before.
Sources said, however, that the effect of alcohol and tobacco, combined with the chronic exhaustion, was to blame for his death as it weakened his immune system.
It is not the first time a Chinese football fan has suffered from trying to keep up with their on-pitch heroes. During the Germany 2006 and South Africa 2010 World Cups reports surfaced of people being admitted to hospital after their bodies broke down from not sleeping.
Sleep deprivation from playing online video games is a huge problem in South Korea.
Addicts were told they could have the amount of time they spend playing limited to just four hours per day.
The country’s government said it was looking at introducing a ‘Cooling Off’ system to regulate the time students play in a 24-hour period.
It wants to stamp out online bullying, and stem suicides attributed to video game addiction.
German auto workers get time off to watch Euro 2012
Several million German car workers will have permission to leave work early on Friday to watch Germany take on Greece in the Euro 2012 quarter finals, auto makers have said.
Some 3.4 million employees at Volkswagen, Europe's leading automotive group, will be able to leave their offices and production lines earlier than normal in order to get home for kick-off, a spokesman said.
Man booted out for choosing Euro QF over anniversary
A woman booted out her partner by the name of Chris out for choosing to attend the Euro 2012 quarter-final over their anniversary. The woman was so furious with her partner’s choice that she also put out a banner that read, ‘Chris, I hope the quarter finals are worth missing our anniversary for’ in bright red paint on a huge white sheet. She then added, ‘Don’t rush back!’ Others who saw the banner were shocked and said that that the woman should not force him to make a choice.u00a0