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A sense of nervous excitement. Visible is the chilled vapour exhaled by my fellow runners as they perform the "pre-race" jiggle on the beginning point.

A swift flick of the hips.

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

Hold on. I have to sort my device. As does the runner alongside me.

The person in the line sighs. I won't start until… yes! Connection established, I'm off.

During the scramble, it's difficult to see a wrist without a fitness tracker on it. And this isn't only us runners who rely on them.

This is a booming, massive sector. Brands like Apple Watch are prevalent, featuring an extensive range of different versions to suit a variety of needs. Based on how feature-packed the model you go for, price tags can start from £100 to thousands of pounds.

"It makes me crazy, it's impossible to switch off."

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

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

A small sample of the responses I've received from other smartwatch wearers when I question what they feel about theirs.

A Sea of Statistics

My thoughts on my own device? Currently, annoying. It's telling me I'm off pace, causing me to question whether the foliage I'm passing under are blocking my satellite signal.

Millions of us fasten these compact devices onto our arms and keep them on 24/7, seemingly unconcerned with the fact they're perpetually monitoring us.

Gone are the days when we relied on them solely to give us an estimation of our pedometer reading. Today, they can measure our nightly rest, blood pressure, heart rate variability (HRV), our body battery.

It's difficult to find a bodily function they aren't designed to measure.

But do they do what they say they do? And are the data points we obsess over a true reflection of the truth? Do they enhance our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the plethora of readings and cheerleading alerts just increase our everyday anxiety?

Addiction or Aid?

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

While she loves how her device records her runs, she finds some of its other capabilities "daunting" at times - a feeling first discovered during a major life event.

Before she realised she could change its configuration, her smartwatch constantly alerted her she was being insufficiently energetic enough. In a new phase, the watch insists her she's had a bad night's sleep.

"I've got a six-month old, there's no point to be informed I'm tired," she says. "I'm acutely aware only too well."

Couldn't she just take it off?

"It's possible, perhaps, but I have this love-hate relationship with it," she explains. "I love it for its fitness insights, I sometimes question whether the additional features it can now do is possibly excessive for me."

The Technology Behind the Tracking

Every device of smartwatch has its own novel way of measuring your health metrics and interpreting your data, but the most use detectors on the underside of the watch.

They usually project minute LED lights onto your skin which can observe blood flow, detecting your BPM. Higher-end devices detect changes in the bioimpedance that runs through the skin to gauge your recovery state.

A Fine Balance

One expert says that for most people for smartwatches, it's a "fine balance" - while the continuously improving tech could potentially aid early diagnosis, "spotting abnormalities before we notice anything", it could also turn us watch wearers into the "worried well".

He points out that the most advanced wearables can conduct tests like electrocardiograms (ECGs), which regularly monitor how healthy the heart is. They can alert if someone is experiencing a heart arrhythmia, where there is erratic impulses in the heart causing an uneven pulse.

This does not necessarily indicate someone is about to have a heart attack, but it can give an early warning they might be more susceptible of a stroke in the long term.

But how to interpret these readings is complex. The expert concerns that as additional features are incorporated, people may struggle to fully comprehend their data.

"I remain sceptical that having the capacity to monitor so many things is such a good idea," he says.

A professor specialising in patient behaviour concurs. A study into the impact of wearable tech on a set of cardiovascular patients suggested a noticeable percentage of those who were given devices to monitor their condition experienced increased anxiety and were "more inclined to use doctor's time".

She noted a pattern with her patients - they noticed a worrying figure on their watch. They felt anxious. Their BPM went up. They got more worried. They checked again, and their anxiety went up again.

"Upon viewing data about ourselves that we can't properly interpret then, of course, we are going to become concerned," the psychologist says. "We look, we check again - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."