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A sense of nervous excitement. Visible is the cold breath emanating from my competitors as they do the "pre-race" wiggle on the starting line.

A swift twitch of the hips.

I'm at my local weekly parkrun event and I'm serious. It's almost time...

Oh, hang on. I need to adjust my watch. So does the person next to me.

The person in the line tuts. I'm not moving until… there! Connection established, and I'm running.

During the scramble, it's challenging to spot a arm without a wearable on it. And this extends beyond us athletes who use them.

This is a booming, massive industry. Names like Garmin are prevalent, each with an broad range of different devices to cater to a range of lifestyles. Depending on how high tech the watch you choose, costs can vary between a hundred pounds to a small fortune.

"I find it infuriating, it's impossible to stop checking."

"It provides solace… It acts as a companion encouraging me."

"I wish it wouldn't say I've experienced a restless night."

A small sample of the comments I've had from other tracker enthusiasts when I inquire what they think of theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My current opinion on mine? Currently, annoying. It's telling me I'm not hitting my target, making me wonder whether the overhead branches I'm passing under are interfering with my satellite signal.

A vast number of us strap these compact monitors onto our arms and wear them all day and night, seemingly comfortable with the fact they're perpetually recording us.

Gone are the days when we used them exclusively to give us an estimation of our pedometer reading. Today, they can analyse our sleep patterns, heart rate, glucose levels, our body battery.

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

But can they do what they advertise? And are the statistics we analyse a accurate representation of reality? Do they improve our daily wellness, or do the avalanche of readings and motivational messages just contribute to our sense of overwhelm?

A Love-Hate Relationship

"I become a bit obsessed with mine," an individual reveals.

While she loves how her device monitors her runs, she finds some of its other features "daunting" at times - a feeling that became apparent during a significant period.

Prior to discovering she could put it into a specific mode, her smartwatch kept telling her she was failing to be productive enough. Now, the watch insists her she's had a poor sleep score.

"I've got a young baby, it's unnecessary for me to be told my sleep was poor," she says. "That fact is perfectly well."

Is it not possible to just remove it?

"It's possible, theoretically, but I've got this complicated dynamic with it," she explains. "I appreciate it for its fitness insights, I sometimes question whether all the other things it can now do is maybe too much for me."

The Technology Behind the Tracking

Every device of smartwatch has its own unique way of measuring your health metrics and analysing your data, but the vast bulk use detectors on the underside of the watch.

They typically shine small, green LED lights onto your wrist which can observe pulsation, recording your heartbeat. Sophisticated devices analyse changes in the bioimpedance that flows through the skin to get an idea of your recovery state.

Expert Perspectives

A data scientist says that in general for smartwatches, it's a "fine balance" - while the rapidly advancing tech could potentially prevent illness, "identifying issues before we feel unwell", it could also turn us watch wearers into the "anxious healthy".

He points out that newer wearables can conduct tests like electrocardiograms (ECGs), which regularly monitor how stable the heart is. They can notify if someone is experiencing a heart arrhythmia, where there is erratic signals in the heart causing an irregular heartbeat.

This does not necessarily indicate someone is imminently going to suffer a heart attack, but it can give an early warning they might be more at risk of a stroke in the long term.

But how to make sense of these numbers is not straightforward. The expert fears that as more functions are incorporated, people may not be able to fully comprehend their data.

"I'm not entirely convinced that having the capacity to monitor so many metrics is such a beneficial thing," he says.

A clinical psychologist focusing on cardiology echoes this sentiment. A study into the impact of wearable tech on a cohort of cardiovascular patients suggested a minority of those who were given devices to monitor their heart health experienced increased anxiety and were "had a higher tendency to use healthcare resources".

She observed a pattern with her patients - they noticed a concerning reading on their watch. They became worried. Their pulse rose. They got even more concerned. They re-examined the data, and their anxiety increased again.

"When people are presented with stats about ourselves that we don't really understand then, of course, we are going to want to know more," the psychologist says. "We monitor, we re-check - it becomes a vicious cycle."