Ask HN: How can I program till late (midnight) and have a good nights sleep?

Programming till midnight is not programming till late :-)

4am is..

And if you have been coding until 4am and want to start your day not later than 8am - bulletproof coffee might be what you need. Tried it and this worked nicely in my case (though I tend to limit such explosions of creativity since also in my case they later result in depressions of creativity)

It's all about sleeping late then. You can't cut many corners on this.

I'm the opposite: I get my best work done early (4 or 5) in the morning before anyone gets up. The only way for me to get a good night of sleep is to go to bed by 9 or 10pm. I need 6 hours sleep to be functional without a load of coffee, 7 to be rested and 8 to be peaceful. It is the rare exception that can get by with 4.

Don't drink caffeine 4-6 hours before midnight.

Install F.lux or reshift. They adjust your display's color temperature automatically to nightime.