I have shone infra-red at my eyes for hundreds of hours to log these beauties:
https://lsdbase.files.wordpress.com/...one1.gif?w=245
And can report that my vision is still intact.
It also doesn't interfere with sleep at all. Blue light, on the other side of the spectrum has been found to keep you awake - that is how f.lux and Twilight improve your sleep by cutting out blue light.
Have a look at the spectrum:
http://i.imgur.com/g1lnjNW.png
The reason you can't see infrared is because it is too weak for the eyes to detect. If it were any weaker, it would be radio, which you are bathing in all the time...