Brazos Valley This Morning's Barbara Smith and Steve Fullhart often have quite the discussions on a variety of topics.  A lot of times, it's via e-mail.  Now, they're giving KBTX.com readers a look at their regular back and forth in a new blog series, appropriately titled "Back & Forth".  Read what they've been chatting about, and chime in with your opinions!

STEVE: Napping. I know you do it a lot more than I do, but I've never been a napper. Whenever I do nap, it completely messes with my body clock.  Case in point: I just woke up from an unintentional two-hour nap.  I will probably be worthless tomorrow (sorry) as a result of not wanting to go to bed until 11 p.m. and only getting a few hours of sleep.  You don't have that problem, do you?

BARBARA: I don't have a problem with napping at all...other than the fact that there's some new study out now that's telling me I'll become diabetic because of my naps.  Granted, there's another study that says other bad things will happen to me if I don't get enough sleep, so I'm really not sure what to do with all that information.  To nap or not to nap?  I'll take the nap any day!  With as little sleep as I get otherwise, I think it's worth the risk.

STEVE: But for how long is the question I ask you, oh nap expert?  I'm reading a lot of medical opinion that 30 minutes is about right, but that really doesn't seem long enough to do much.  And like I said, mine are normally unintentional.  One Newsweek piece I read said I should set an alarm, but how, pray tell, am I supposed to set an alarm when I don't know when the doze is due to come?

BARBARA: Okay, first of all, you're doing way too much research on napping.  Don't force the issue.  If you're not a napper, don't worry about it.  No diabetes for you (again, too much research).

Also, I think the length of the nap is an individual thing.  My dad, for my entire life, has been able to find a comfy chair and grab a quick 10-15 minute nap.  No alarm or anything else...he just sits down, closes his eyes, and wakes up refreshed several minutes later.  That's not me.  I like a good long nap.  Thirty minutes is almost not worth it, but there are definitely days when that's all the time I have so I take it.

I like an hour to an hour and a half.  And, yes, I set an alarm...otherwise I would sleep much longer.  I am not, by nature, a morning person.  I've learned to become one, but when I was growing up, the running joke in our family on Christmas morning was that we'd be late to the family get-together because I overslept.  My mother would have to wake me up to go open presents.  I remember some Christmas mornings falling back asleep.  I'm a sleeper.  I'm happiest with a good eight hours.

However, raising two boys and working early hours prevents me from getting those eight hours at night, so I have to make up the time later in the day.  Trust me...you're glad I nap.  If I were truly walking around sleep-deprived, you wouldn't want to be anywhere near me.  I don't get mean, just cranky.  Pitiful for a 41-year-old woman to admit she gets cranky, but what can I say?   I know my limitations and I love my naps.

STEVE: 1) When have you known me not to look too much into things?

2) The early hours now I think are turning me into a napper, at least on Fridays and the weekends.  We've talked before about how Mondays are the absolute worst because we move back to a more normal sleep schedule only to have to wake up early on Mondays.  No fun, especially when only half my weekend hours are spent awake, only to try and go to bed at 8 or 9 p.m. Sunday night...not easy, sometimes impossible.

3) I'm thrilled you nap, because I have run into Cranky Babs on very rare occasions.  Stevie no likey, just like I know you are no fan of me on my cranky mornings, which are far more frequent.  I'm most definitely not a morning person, and after working the KBTX nightside shift for basically five-plus years, moving to mornings has been no bueno on my body clock.  LOVE everything else about BVTM except when the alarm goes off at the hour it does.  If you're not a morning person, you hide it brilliantly on air and off.

BARBARA: 1)  True.
 
2)  Adjusting to an unnatural sleep schedule is difficult.  I can tell you that, after almost nine years, it does get a little easier.  But there are still those mornings when the alarm clock goes off that I just want to throw it across the room and go back to sleep.  I think that's why I love Saturdays so much.  It's the only day of the week I get to awaken sans alarm clock.
 
3)  Glad to know the alter ego now has an official name: Cranky Babs.  Hopefully she doesn't appear too often.  Does this mean I get to call you Cranky Stevie every now and then?  Don't answer that.  Even if you say no, you know I'll do it anyway.

Give us your opinions, tips, techniques, knowledge, and anything else in the comments section of this blog!