ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – Daylight saving time has become traditional for most people, something you know comes each spring and fall. In the spring, you jump forward and lose an hour, and in the fall, you go back and gain an hour. But why did this become a thing?

Daylight savings became what it is today because it originally started as a joke in 1784. But as technology advanced, and the invention of the clock and the railroad happened, it became a reality in the early 20th century in 1908 in Canada.

How DST affects a person really depends on how close they are to the equator, said Archivist at the Chemung County Historical Society Rachel Dworkin.

“So if you’re closer to the equator, it doesn’t matter, like, there’s not that much of a difference between the length of the day even in the height of the seasons. But the further north you get like, the less sunlight there is in the winter and the more sunlight there is in the summer and it actually does have a significant effect,” said Dworkin.

She also said farmers specifically aren’t a fan of DST due to the impact it has on their animals. When the times change around, it messes with the sleep schedule of the animals which impacts the rhythm of how things work on the farm.

Additionally, daylight savings has negative effects on your circadian rhythms, which are the physical, mental and behavioral changes that follow a person’s 24-hour cycle.

Dworkin explained this saying “It actually messes with people’s circadian rhythms, and so there are a lot of people who die of heart attacks, and other stress related illnesses around daylight savings time. And there’s an increase in traffic fatalities around daylight savings time every year. Like 30 people die in the United States as a result of daylight savings time.”

This weekend make sure you know, spring forward, fall back. Move your clocks forward on the second Sunday of each March and bring them back on the first Sunday of each November.