

Why programmers work at night - Swizec
http://swizec.com/blog/why-programmers-work-at-night/swizec/3198

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maxdemarzi
"To conclude, programmers work at night because it doesn’t impose a time limit
on when you have to stop working, which gives you a more relaxed approach,
your brain doesn’t keep looking for distractions and a bright screen keeps you
awake."

\-- and everyone else in the house is sleeping and can't bug you.

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mattadams
Be very careful with screwing with your sleep cycle. Our bodies and to some
extent our minds are hardwired to depend on the natural rhythm caused by
daylight/night-time. Obviously this is pretty easy to mess with thanks to
artificial light and the cross-over of light spectrums.

There are chemicals in our brains which are only produced by certain rhythms,
not to mention the need for sunlight and vitamin D. Being especially hard on
your body can be detrimental to your long-term health and when we sleep is
almost certainly as important as how much sleep we get.

I write this as someone who has a very tough time on both counts and is
seriously envious of his wife who gets good sleep at the drop of a hat.

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dhkl
"Because being tired makes us better coders. [...] Similar to the ballmer
peak, being tired can make us focus better simply because when your brain is
tired it has to focus! There isn’t enough left-over brainpower to afford
losing concentration."

Couldn't agree more. I find it easier to design complicated
algorithm/architecture at night than I do during the day, even when I'm fully
reseted and without distraction.

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daimyoyo
I think there's a simpler answer they might not have considered. Whatever job
I have, I am alway most productive at night. That's because I am nocturnal. I
always have been. And the fact is that while I can be at an office early, my
mind doesn't function at it's highest capacity until after midnight. Again,
this might be an isolated case, but I have a feeling a good percentage of
programmers are night owls.

