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An atmosphere of nervous excitement. Apparent is the cold breath exhaled by my rivals as they do the "pre-race" shuffle on the starting line.

A quick movement of the hips.

I'm lined up for my local weekly parkrun event and I'm focused. It's almost time...

Wait a second. I have to adjust my watch. So does the guy beside me.

The person behind us sighs. I won't start until… yes! Connection established, and I'm running.

During the scramble, it's challenging to spot a arm without a fitness tracker on it. And it's not just us participants who rely on them.

This is a explosive, multi-billion pound sector. Names like Garmin dominate, all offering an wide range of different versions to cater to a range of needs. Depending on how high tech the device you select, prices can range from £100 to a small fortune.

"It makes me crazy, I can't relax."

"It comforts me… It feels like a supporter guiding me."

"Stop telling me I've had a restless night."

A handful of the responses I've had from other smartwatch wearers when I ask what they their opinion is on theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My thoughts on mine? At this moment, annoying. It's indicating I'm off pace, making me wonder whether the overhead branches I'm passing under are disrupting my GPS connection.

Countless individuals of us strap these little devices onto our arms and wear them 24/7, apparently unconcerned with the fact they're perpetually monitoring us.

Gone are the days when we used them only to give us an rough count of our pedometer reading. Now, they can measure our nightly rest, heart rate, glucose levels, our VO2 max.

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

But are they able to do what they claim to do? And are the statistics we obsess over a faithful picture of reality? Do they boost our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the avalanche of metrics and cheerleading alerts just contribute to our everyday anxiety?

A Love-Hate Relationship

"I find myself getting a a little preoccupied with mine," a wearer reveals.

While she loves how her device monitors her workouts, she finds some of its other features "daunting" at times - a feeling first discovered during a pregnancy.

Prior to discovering she could put it into a specific mode, her smartwatch repeatedly informed her she was not being active enough. In a new phase, the watch frequently reports her she's had a bad night's sleep.

"I've got a infant, there's no point to be informed I've not slept," she says. "That fact is all too clearly."

Why doesn't she just remove it?

"It's possible, theoretically, but I'm in this love-hate relationship with it," she says. "I appreciate it for its fitness insights, but I'm unsure whether the myriad other functions it can now do is maybe excessive for me."

How Do They Work?

Different brands of smartwatch has its own unique way of tracking your vitals and processing your data, but the vast bulk use optical sensors on the back of the watch.

They typically emit minute LED lights onto your wrist which can detect pulsation, detecting your BPM. Sophisticated devices analyse changes in the skin conductance that passes over the skin to get an idea of your stress levels.

The Professional Viewpoint

A data scientist says that for most people for smartwatches, it's a "fine balance" - while the ever-evolving tech could potentially save lives, "spotting abnormalities before we feel unwell", it could also turn us watch wearers into the "concerned but fine".

He points out that newer wearables can conduct tests like heart rhythm analysis, which continuously monitor how stable the heart is. They can notify if someone is experiencing a heart arrhythmia, where there is erratic electrical activity in the heart causing an arrhythmia.

This does not necessarily indicate someone is about to have a cardiac event, but it can give an early warning they might be more at risk of a stroke in the years to come.

But how to understand these readings is complex. The expert concerns that as further capabilities are added, people may not be able to fully contextualise their data.

"I have some doubts that the ability to monitor so much data is such a beneficial thing," he says.

A health researcher studying cardiology concurs. 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 heart health experienced increased anxiety and were "more inclined to use doctor's time".

She observed a vicious circle with her patients - they saw a concerning reading on their watch. They grew concerned. Their BPM increased. They got more worried. They looked a second time, and their anxiety rose further.

"When people are presented with numbers about ourselves that we don't really understand then, naturally, we are going to seek clarification," the psychologist says. "We look, we obsess - it becomes a feedback loop."