I do this too. I'm on a Mac and use an app called "Amphetamine" to keep the machine active (it's the successor to "Caffeine" IIRC).
However, I dim the screen to black when I go to sleep, since it's the only component that can't really "idle" - it's consuming power as long as it's displaying pixels, and thus it would also be the first component to die from overuse even while "idling."
However, I dim the screen to black when I go to sleep, since it's the only component that can't really "idle" - it's consuming power as long as it's displaying pixels, and thus it would also be the first component to die from overuse even while "idling."