GREENSBORO -- A new study by a pair of Swedish doctors says the end of Daylight Saving Time reduces the risk of heart attacks.

The study looked at data in Sweden over a 20-year period. And a trio of Triad specialists says it confirms what many in medicine have long believed -- that the extra hour of sleep is good for your ticker.

"The biggest effect is that it's going to let people get probably closer to the amount of sleep they actually need," said Dr. Clint Young or Moses Cone Health System's Sleep Disorders Center. "They're getting an extra hour of sleep, and in that sense, they're doing a little bit of catch up."

The Swedish team found a 5 percent decrease in the number of heart attacks on the Monday after the fall time change, but a 6 to 10 percent increase with the onset of Daylight Saving Time in the spring.

Dr. Jay Ganji said the people in danger of a heart attack are those who already have significant risk factors.

"People who have high blood pressure, people who have diabetes, people who have strong family histories of heart disease," said Ganji, a cardiologist with Southeastern Heart & Vascular Center.

But doctors say some perspective is needed.

"All 300 million people in the United States are exposed to getting an hour's more sleep or an hour's less sleep when we go on or off daylight saving time," said Dr. William Little, chief of cardiology at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. "But only a very small number of people actually are going to have heart attacks as a consequence."

Ganji said the risk posed by losing an hour of sleep in the spring may well be trumped by the modern lifestyle.

"Before in those days there was no electricity, there was no TV or the TVs were off by 8 o'clock," said Ganji. "Everything was dark and people used to get good sleep, but now there are a lot of stimulants in the environment like the lights, like the TV, like the radio and music and so forth that are keeping people awake in the wee hours of the morning."

Young has advice to the sleep deprived.

"Just try to get enough sleep," he said.