Why Programmers Work At Night Analysis

Mental Flow During the Night
A captivating book can easily have individuals reading late into the night, the hours flying by as they read paragraph after paragraph. A narrative weaves itself in their minds. Intriguing mysteries, exciting adventures, emotional romances; the vivid scenes play themselves out as if it were a dramatic stage play. Eventually, the book is put away in favor of sleep, the hours passing away in dreams. As soon as the sun rises and they hop out of bed, that same book may not be spared a single glance, whether because of a busy schedule, the constant interruptions that comes with other people being awake, or perhaps just not being able to remain concentrated on the book’s pages. But after a long day, when the sun has lowered

It is a time where the rest of the world shuts down, and all is quiet. It is the time that has been set aside for quiet. There are several hours that can be used for absolute concentration, and to really get in the flow.
A Clear Mind
Flow is an intense, meditative calm, in which a person does nothing but focus on a single task. The author of an internet essay titled Why Programmers Work at Night provides some examples of why it is much harder to achieve flow during the day, “Whether it’s an errand you still have to run, or an important email you mustn’t forget to send. … If there’s something tugging at your brain, you might as well forget about flow.” (2013)
The biggest thing tugging on everyone’s brain is the anticipation of distraction. People know they need to do something soon, so that is all they can think about. Sometimes they have got a big meeting, or they need to be around to take a call. In any case, it can be very distracting, even if the actual distraction has not happened

Eventually, they find that they simply cannot get into the flow before 9PM.
Decision Fatigue
Decision fatigue is, “different from ordinary physical fatigue — you’re not consciously aware of being tired — but you’re low on mental energy. The more choices you make throughout the day, the harder each one becomes for your brain, and eventually it looks for shortcuts …” (John Tierney, 2011) As a day progresses, a brain’s mental energy is drained by constant decision making. Whether or not the brain is actually aware of its own exhaustion, it continues to make decisions with degrading quality.
Some people drain quicker than others. One individual may feel perfectly fine in the evening, and another be ready to flop into bed without second notice. Flow requires the ability to make good decisions in order to summit the challenge of the activity. Some people may not be able to concentrate well enough during the evening to even attempt at getting into the flow. Those people may feel at their best during the morning or afternoon. Everyone is different. Flow comes to everyone at different times.