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There's a feeling of anticipation. I can see the frosty air exhaled by my competitors as they execute the "about to run" jiggle on the beginning point.

A rapid flick of the hips.

I'm at my local Saturday morning race and I'm serious. It's almost time...

Wait a second. I have to adjust my device. The same goes for the guy alongside me.

The person behind us tuts. I refuse to go until… there! Signal acquired, and I'm running.

In the mele, it's hard to see a arm without a wearable on it. And this extends beyond us runners who rely on them.

This is a thriving, multi-billion pound market. Names like Apple Watch dominate, each with an wide array of various versions to suit a variety of needs. Depending on how high tech the device you choose, prices can start from £100 to thousands of pounds.

"It drives me insane, it's impossible to stop checking."

"It reassures me… It's like a supporter supporting me."

"I wish it wouldn't say I've experienced a poor sleep."

A small sample of the responses I've had from like-minded tracker enthusiasts when I inquire what they think of theirs.

A Sea of Statistics

My thoughts on mine? At this moment, irritating. It's indicating I'm not hitting my target, causing me to question whether the trees along my route are disrupting my location tracking.

A vast number of us strap these small monitors onto our wrists and wear them all day and night, ostensibly comfortable with the fact they're continuously monitoring us.

A distant memory are the days when we depended on them solely to give us an idea of our daily steps. Currently, they can analyse our sleep patterns, stress levels, heart rate variability (HRV), our VO2 max.

It's a challenge to find a physical metric they aren't designed to measure.

But can they do what they claim to do? And are the data points we analyse a accurate representation of our actual health? Do they improve our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the plethora of measurements and constant notifications just contribute to our everyday anxiety?

Addiction or Aid?

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

While she values how her device records her exercise, she finds some of its other features "overwhelming" at times - a feeling initially realised during a major life event.

Before she realised she could put it into a specific mode, her smartwatch kept telling her she was not being active enough. In a new phase, the watch insists her she's had a restless night.

"I've got a young baby, I don't need to be notified I've not slept," she says. "That fact is only too well."

Is it not possible to just stop wearing it?

"I suppose I could, I suppose, but I have this complicated dynamic with it," she continues. "I appreciate it for its workout tracking, but I'm unsure whether all the other things it can now do is perhaps overkill for me."

Inside the Device

Each model of smartwatch has its own novel way of monitoring your bodily functions and processing your data, but the most use sensors on the underside of the watch.

They typically project small, green LED lights onto your wrist which can detect pulsation, detecting your BPM. Sophisticated devices measure changes in the skin conductance that flows through the skin to assess your nervous system activity.

A Fine Balance

One expert says that in general for smartwatches, it's a "delicate equilibrium" - while the ever-evolving tech could actually aid early diagnosis, "identifying issues before we show symptoms", it could also turn us device users into the "concerned but fine".

He points out that newer wearables can carry out tests like heart rhythm analysis, which constantly monitor how stable the heart is. They can alert if someone is experiencing atrial fibrillation (AF), where there is erratic signals in the heart causing an irregular heartbeat.

This does not automatically signal someone is on the verge of a heart attack, but it can give an preliminary indication they might be more at risk of a stroke in the long term.

But how to understand these figures is complicated. The expert worries that as further capabilities are incorporated, people may not be able to fully contextualise their data.

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

A clinical psychologist studying cardiology echoes this sentiment. Her work into the impact of wearable tech on a cohort of heart condition patients suggested a minority of those who were given devices to monitor their heart health experienced heightened worry and were "far more likely to use healthcare resources".

She observed a cycle with her patients - they noticed a alarming metric on their watch. They became worried. Their heart rate increased. They got even more concerned. They looked a second time, and their reading rose further.

"Upon viewing numbers about ourselves that we lack context for then, of course, we are going to want to know more," the psychologist says. "We look, we obsess - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."