Death from overwork is becoming common, writes He Na, so white-collar workers have to change their lifestyle and read the symptoms of an impending danger to avoid disaster.

A 24-year-old employee at Ogilvy China, a public relations consultancy in Beijing, died after suffering a heart attack at work on May 13. According to investigations, his micro blog showed that he had been working overtime for a month without a break. Almost a month has passed, and many of his colleagues and friends still refuse to accept that he is dead. "He didn't talk much. But he was broad-minded and healthy. He loved sports and had a passion for music ... whenever I think of him a picture of a happy and energetic man appears in front of my eyes," recalled one of his colleagues who didn't want to be named.

Two days later, on May 15, another 24-year-old man, who worked for a well-known IT company in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian province, suddenly collapsed at a bus station in the morning and died two hours later in a hospital despite doctors' desperate attempt to save him. He had a heavy workload and often worked late into the night, which have been blamed for his sudden death.