Number of Hours of Sleep vs Time you Sleep

So, I'm a night owl and typically stay up until 2 am.  However, seeing as that it is summer vacation and I am unemployed, I have no time I have to be waking up.  What I am asking is, if I am getting the adequate hours of sleep a day (usually I sleep for 8 or 9 hours) does it matter that I stay up late and sleep in?  Should I change my sleeping habits to follow an early sleep/wake cycle?

I know sleep is a huge factor in weight loss/gain and I don't want to be sabotaging myself just because I stay up late at night and sleep til afternoon. 

Oh I do this too.

Bad side effects I notice, nightime sort of restricts activity.  Are you going to go for a run a night?  Get things done?  or do you like to eat?  That is what I do and that is where it becomes horrible for me.  I have to be quiet so all I can do is play on the CPU or watch gilmore girls reruns and snack.  No cleaning, no exercise.

Plus sunlight is wonderful.

If you were breaking it up so it wasn't a continuous 8 hours..that would be a problem.  But it isn't a problem (per se) if you are getting 8 hours straight.  Now if your question is more regarding eating... ie: you stay up till 2 and after 9 pm you snack all night and then don't eat until dinner the next day, then yes that's a problem.  Then you choose: change your eating habits or sleeping habits.  If you like the sleep habit, just change your diet. AKA, say you awaken at 10am, eat breakfast then, have a small snack at noon, lunch around 2, 230, snack at 5ish and then have a late dinner around 830-9.  If you have room for dessert, perfect, have it around midnight. 

I know that sometimes working an altered schedule can mess with your circadian rhythm, and that can cause different sleep disorders.  You might want to look into that.  I work overnights and have been for the past two years.  At first I had no real problems with sleeping, for about six months.  Now, though, I have really wicked insomnia.  Your hours are a lot less extreme than mine though. 

:edit: forgot to add this
This is somewhat anecdotal evidence, so I would take it with a grain of salt, but all of the girls I worked with gained weight when switching to overnights.  I did not though, but I was counting calories...

Original Post by sealion311:

If you were breaking it up so it wasn't a continuous 8 hours..that would be a problem.  But it isn't a problem (per se) if you are getting 8 hours straight. 

 Wow, I was just wondering about that.  I noticed that almost two years ago when I started losing sleep I started packing on the pounds.  Sunday thru Wednesday I sleep from 3 or 4 am until 7 am....then on Mon/Tue/Wed if I have time I will sneak in an hour or two of sleep from 5-9 pm...Thursday and Friday Nights I almost get 7 hours...So in order to lose weight I have to get 8 continuous hours of sleep ????

I just graduated from art school..even during "down" time I would get at most five hours a night..maybe 7 on the weekends (18 credits of studio classes will make your life a living hell). The less sleep I got the more cravings for sugar I had..makes perfect sense. I also had NO energy to exercise. But now that I am employed...simple 9-5..I get around 8 or 9 hours...its amazing! and now I don't even need coffee that much..except the morning of course.

I've always been a night person, and now that classes are out for the summer I only have to worry about my 12:30-9:00pm shift at work so I also go to bed around 2 in the morning or so.  I've shifted my entire schedule accordingly, so I haven't noticed any difference in my weight loss.  I work out from 9-10pm (just as a lot of people would work out from 5-6 or 6-7 after getting out of a regular 8-hour day job) then go home, eat something to keep my metabolism up, and do things around the house.  It's actually kinda cool to do all my patio gardening around midnight...that's why I've planted a moon garden - so I can enjoy it in the dark. :)  Plus, my fiance works 5:30pm-2:00am so now that I don't have to get up early for class, it's nice to still be up sometimes when he gets home from work at 2:30am or so.