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A sense of feeling of anticipation. Apparent is the frosty air coming from my fellow runners as they perform the "pre-race" shuffle on the starting line.

A rapid twitch of the hips.

I'm participating in my local weekly parkrun event and I'm serious. The countdown begins...

Wait a second. I need to sort my device. As does the guy alongside me.

The person waiting expresses impatience. I refuse to go until… yes! Connection established, I'm off.

During the scramble, it's challenging to spot a wrist without a wearable on it. And this isn't only us runners who use them.

This is a booming, massive sector. Names like Apple Watch lead the market, featuring an broad selection of various models to fit a spectrum of needs. Depending on how advanced the model you go for, price tags can vary between a hundred pounds to a significant investment.

"I find it infuriating, I'm unable to switch off."

"It reassures me… It's like a friend guiding me."

"Stop telling me about a poor sleep."

Just some of the comments I've received from like-minded tracker enthusiasts when I question what they think of theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My thoughts on mine? Right now, irritating. It's telling me my speed is wrong, causing me to question whether the overhead branches along my route are blocking my GPS connection.

A vast number of us attach these small devices onto our arms and wear them 24/7, ostensibly unconcerned with the fact they're constantly tracking us.

A distant memory are the days when we relied on them exclusively to give us an idea of our step count. Today, they can measure our sleep patterns, blood pressure, heart rate variability (HRV), our recovery score.

It's difficult to find a health indicator they don't track.

But are they able to do what they advertise? And are the statistics we scrutinise a accurate representation of the truth? Do they improve our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the multitude of measurements and constant notifications just add to our daily stresses?

Addiction or Aid?

"I do get a bit obsessed with mine," one user reveals.

While she loves how her device records her runs, she finds some of its other capabilities "daunting" at times - a feeling initially realised during a significant period.

Before she realised she could change its configuration, her smartwatch repeatedly informed her she was not being productive enough. Later on, the watch frequently reports her she's had a bad night's sleep.

"I am caring for a infant, there's no point to be informed I'm tired," she says. "I know that perfectly well."

Couldn't she just stop wearing it?

"It's possible, perhaps, but I'm in this push-pull dynamic with it," she continues. "I value it for its fitness insights, but I'm unsure whether the myriad other functions it can now do is perhaps too much for me."

How Do They Work?

Each model of smartwatch has its own novel way of measuring your health metrics and analysing your data, but the most use detectors on the back of the watch.

They typically shine small, green LED lights onto your arm which can detect blood flow, recording your heartbeat. Higher-end devices measure changes in the electrical current that passes over the skin to gauge your stress levels.

A Fine Balance

One expert says that overall for smartwatches, it's a "difficult line" - while the rapidly advancing tech could actually aid early diagnosis, "identifying issues before we feel unwell", it could also turn us watch wearers into the "anxious healthy".

He points out that the most advanced wearables can perform tests like medical-grade monitoring, which regularly monitor how stable the heart is. They can flag if someone is experiencing an irregular rhythm, where there is erratic impulses in the heart causing an arrhythmia.

This does not necessarily indicate someone is on the verge of a heart attack, but it can give an advance notice they might be more susceptible of a stroke in the years to come.

But how to understand these numbers is not straightforward. The expert worries that as further capabilities are added, people may find it hard to fully understand their data.

"I'm not entirely convinced that having the capacity to monitor so many things is such a positive development," he says.

A health researcher specialising in cardiology echoes this sentiment. Her work into the impact of wearable tech on a cohort of individuals with health issues suggested a significant portion of those who were given devices to monitor their cardiac function experienced heightened worry and were "far more likely to use healthcare resources".

She noted a cycle with her patients - they spotted a alarming metric on their watch. They became worried. Their heart rate went up. They got more worried. They re-examined the data, and their heart rate increased again.

"Upon viewing data about ourselves that we don't really understand then, understandably, we are going to want to know more," the psychologist says. "We monitor, we obsess - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."