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There's a feeling of anticipation. I can see the chilled vapour exhaled by my competitors as they execute the "starting line" shuffle on the start line.

A rapid flick of the hips.

I'm lined up for my local 5km community parkrun and I'm serious. The countdown begins...

Oh, hang on. I need to start my watch. As does the person alongside me.

The person waiting tuts. I refuse to go until… done! GPS ready, and I'm running.

During the scramble, it's hard to spot a arm without a smartwatch on it. And this isn't only us athletes who rely on them.

It's a explosive, multi-billion pound industry. Names like Apple Watch lead the market, all offering an broad array of various versions to cater to a variety of budgets. Depending on how advanced the device you go for, prices can vary between £100 to a small fortune.

"It makes me crazy, I can't switch off."

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

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

A small sample of the reactions I've had from other tracker enthusiasts when I ask what they feel about theirs.

A Sea of Statistics

My current opinion on my own device? Right now, frustrating. It's reporting my speed is wrong, leading me to doubt whether the overhead branches I'm running below are disrupting my satellite signal.

Countless individuals of us strap these small monitors onto our arms and keep them on constantly, ostensibly unconcerned with the fact they're continuously recording us.

A distant memory are the days when we relied on them exclusively to give us an estimation of our pedometer reading. Today, they can track our sleep quality, heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), our recovery score.

It's tricky to find a health indicator they fail to monitor.

But can they do what they advertise? And are the numbers we analyse a accurate representation of the truth? Do they enhance our daily wellness, or do the plethora of readings and constant notifications just increase our sense of overwhelm?

A Love-Hate Relationship

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

While she loves how her device monitors her runs, she finds some of its other functions "overwhelming" at times - a feeling that became apparent during a major life event.

Prior to discovering she could change its configuration, her smartwatch kept telling her she was being insufficiently productive enough. Later on, the watch keeps telling her she's had a poor sleep score.

"I've got a infant, it's unnecessary for me to be notified I'm tired," she says. "That fact is all too clearly."

Couldn't she just take it off?

"It's possible, I suppose, but I have this love-hate relationship with it," she continues. "I value it for its fitness insights, I just wonder whether the additional features it can now do is maybe excessive for me."

How Do They Work?

Different brands of smartwatch has its own unique way of measuring your bodily functions and interpreting your data, but the majority use sensors on the reverse of the watch.

They typically project minute LED lights onto your wrist which can monitor blood flow, recording your BPM. Sophisticated devices detect changes in the bioimpedance that flows through the skin to assess your nervous system activity.

Expert Perspectives

A professor says that for most people for smartwatches, it's a "delicate equilibrium" - while the ever-evolving tech could actually save lives, "spotting abnormalities before we notice anything", it could also turn us the tracked into the "concerned but fine".

He points out that the most advanced wearables can conduct tests like heart rhythm analysis, which constantly monitor how healthy the heart is. They can notify if someone is experiencing a heart arrhythmia, where there is irregular electrical activity in the heart causing an irregular heartbeat.

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 blood clot in the long term.

But how to understand these figures is complicated. The expert fears that as more functions are introduced, people may not be able to fully contextualise their data.

"I remain sceptical that being able to monitor so many metrics is such a positive development," he says.

A health researcher studying patient behaviour concurs. Research into the influence of wearable tech on a specific group of heart condition patients suggested a significant portion of those who were given devices to monitor their condition experienced heightened worry and were "far more likely to use healthcare resources".

She noted a cycle with her patients - they saw a concerning reading on their watch. They felt anxious. Their heart rate went up. They got increasingly anxious. They checked again, and their reading went up again.

"If we see numbers about ourselves that we can't properly interpret then, understandably, we are going to want to know more," the psychologist says. "We look, we check again - it becomes a vicious cycle."