I've been moving in this direction for a few months as well. In the beginning, yes, it might mean going to bed at 8 or 9. People who snooze like this (I used to) are probably going around with a significant "sleep debt". For example, if I set no alarm a couple of months ago, I would sleep for 12 hours. If I set no alarm again the next night, I would sleep for 12 hours again.

After maybe a couple of weeks of heavy sleeping (see note), your pattern will hopefully return to where you can go to bed at a normal time again without worrying about oversleeping.

NOTE: I don't recommend trying to make up that sleep night after night. Two nights of 12 hours in a row leave me feeling not my best. But consistently getting above-average amounts of sleep for an extended period of time will move you in that direction. (9.5ish has been good for me.)

These days I go to bed around midnight, give or take half an hour. I get up anywhere from 5:00-6:30. If I can get to bed around 10:00, I wake up at 4:00 or 4:30.

I can't remember exactly what happened when I first stopped using the alarm, but I remember a couple patterns:

- I used to set an alarm for 6:00, and snooze until 7:30 or so. Getting up when I first woke up meant I often got up around 6:30 or 6:45 - later than I set my alarm for, but much earlier than I usually got out of bed.

- I stopped "just staying up late". I used to get tired around midnight, then stay up until 1:00 or 1:30, not getting much done. I knew I needed sleep, so I started going go bed when I was tired.

Overall, it made me pay attention to the sleep my body needed, and stop pretending the alarm clock would just get me up.