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A sense of nervous excitement. Apparent is the chilled vapour coming from my competitors as they execute the "pre-race" jiggle on the starting line.

A quick movement of the hips.

I'm participating in my local Saturday morning race and I mean business. It's almost time...

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

The person behind us tuts. I refuse to go until… done! Connection established, away I go.

Amidst the crowd, it's challenging to see a wrist without a fitness tracker on it. And this extends beyond us runners who use them.

It's a booming, multi-billion pound market. Brands like Garmin lead the market, each with an broad array of various devices to suit a range of budgets. Depending on how high tech the watch you select, costs can range from a hundred pounds to a small fortune.

"I find it infuriating, I'm unable to relax."

"It provides solace… It's like a companion supporting me."

"Stop telling me about a restless night."

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

A Sea of Statistics

My feelings on mine? At this moment, frustrating. It's indicating I'm off pace, causing me to question whether the foliage I'm passing under are blocking my satellite signal.

Countless individuals of us fasten these small monitors onto our wrists and wear them 24/7, seemingly unconcerned with the fact they're constantly tracking us.

A distant memory are the days when we used them solely to give us an idea of our pedometer reading. Currently, they can measure our sleep patterns, heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), our recovery score.

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

But do they do what they advertise? And are the numbers we analyse a accurate representation of the truth? Do they improve our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the plethora of measurements and constant notifications just contribute to our daily stresses?

A Love-Hate Relationship

"I do get a bit fixated with mine," an individual confesses.

While she values how her device records her runs, she finds some of its other features "daunting" at times - a feeling initially realised during a significant period.

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

"I have a infant, it's unnecessary for me to be told my sleep was poor," she says. "I'm acutely aware all too clearly."

Is it not possible to just take it off?

"I suppose I could, perhaps, but I have this push-pull dynamic with it," she continues. "I value 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

Each model of smartwatch has its own proprietary way of monitoring your vitals and interpreting your data, but the vast bulk use sensors on the underside of the watch.

They typically shine minute LED lights onto your skin which can monitor pulsation, recording your BPM. More advanced devices measure changes in the electrical current that flows through the skin to gauge your stress levels.

Expert Perspectives

A professor says that overall for smartwatches, it's a "difficult line" - while the rapidly advancing tech could actually save lives, "spotting abnormalities before we notice anything", it could also turn us the tracked into the "anxious healthy".

He points out that some of the latest wearables can perform tests like electrocardiograms (ECGs), which regularly monitor how healthy the heart is. They can notify if someone is experiencing atrial fibrillation (AF), where there is erratic impulses in the heart causing an arrhythmia.

This does not mean someone is imminently going to suffer a heart attack, but it can give an preliminary indication they might be more at risk of a heart problem in the years to come.

But how to make sense of these figures is not straightforward. The expert fears that as additional features are added, people may not be able to fully understand their data.

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

A professor specialising in wearable tech concurs. 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 cardiac function experienced increased anxiety and were "far more likely to use medical services".

She noted a cycle with her patients - they spotted a alarming metric on their watch. They felt anxious. Their heart rate rose. They got increasingly anxious. They re-examined the data, and their heart rate increased again.

"Upon viewing data about ourselves that we don't really understand then, understandably, we are going to become concerned," the psychologist says. "We look, we obsess - it becomes a feedback loop."