A new study finds a striking connection between the tick of the clock and the beat of your heart.

Daylight Saving Time ends this weekend, which means we all get an extra hour of sleep.

An hour that could be far more important than any of us realized.

Turning back the clocks an hour this Sunday may buy you more than an extra hour's sleep. It actually could save your life!

Researchers in Sweden found that on the day after the time change, heart attacks decreased by 5%.

"It was a little surprising in terms of the magnitude of the effect," said Mayo Clinic Cardiologist Dr. Virend Somers.

Dr. Somers studies sleep-related heart disease at the Mayo Clinic. He says it's been known that sleep deprivation is bad for the heart, but no-one realized a single hour could have such a huge effect.

"This is one example of the potential broad effects of sleep deprivation," Somer said.

Sleep, he says, is when the body heals. Lack of it can cause an increase in blood pressure, increased heart rate ...all risk factors for heart attacks.

So perhaps it isn't so surprising that the study also found that in the Spring, when we move the clocks ahead, losing an hour's sleep, heart attacks increased by 6%.

"It's the change on top of a chronic problem that's really triggering an event," said Dr. Gordon Blackburn, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist.

The solution: get plenty of sleep throughout the year.

So enjoy the extra hour this weekend. And in the spring, doctors say it may be prudent to plan ahead and make sure that the hour you lose doesn't subtract from your sleep time.