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A sense of building tension. I can see the chilled vapour exhaled by my competitors as they execute the "pre-race" jiggle on the beginning point.

A quick flick of the hips.

I'm lined up for my local weekly parkrun event and I mean business. Three, two, one...

Oh, hang on. I must start my device. So does the person beside me.

The person in the line expresses impatience. I refuse to go until… there! Connection established, away I go.

Amidst the crowd, it's difficult to spot a wrist without a fitness tracker on it. And this isn't only us participants who rely on them.

We're witnessing a explosive, multi-billion dollar market. Brands like Apple Watch lead the market, all offering an broad selection of diverse versions to suit a spectrum of lifestyles. Based on how advanced the watch you select, costs can start from a hundred pounds to thousands of pounds.

"It drives me insane, I can't relax."

"It comforts me… It acts as a friend guiding me."

"Stop telling me I've had a poor sleep."

A handful of the reactions people have shared from fellow smartwatch wearers when I inquire what they feel about theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My current opinion on my own device? At this moment, annoying. It's telling me my speed is wrong, leading me to doubt whether the foliage along my route are interfering with my satellite signal.

A vast number of us fasten these little devices onto our wrists and use them constantly, apparently at ease with the fact they're perpetually monitoring us.

Long past are the days when we relied on them exclusively to give us an idea of our daily steps. Today, they can measure our sleep patterns, heart rate, oxygen saturation, our body battery.

It's difficult to find a bodily function they fail to monitor.

But do they do what they claim to do? And are the data points we obsess over a accurate representation of the truth? Do they boost our overall health, or do the plethora of readings and constant notifications just increase our sense of overwhelm?

A Complicated Bond

"I become a quite preoccupied with mine," one user reveals.

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

Until she found out she could change its configuration, her smartwatch constantly alerted her she was being insufficiently active enough. Later on, the watch keeps telling her she's had a bad night's sleep.

"I am caring for a six-month old, there's no point to be told my sleep was poor," she says. "I'm acutely aware perfectly well."

Why doesn't she just remove it?

"I suppose I could, theoretically, but I'm in this push-pull dynamic with it," she explains. "I appreciate it for its exercise data, but I'm unsure whether the additional features it can now do is possibly overkill for me."

The Technology Behind the Tracking

Different brands of smartwatch has its own novel way of monitoring your bodily functions and processing your data, but the majority use sensors on the back of the watch.

They commonly shine small, green LED lights onto your arm which can observe pulsation, detecting your pulse rate. More advanced devices measure changes in the bioimpedance that runs through the skin to assess your stress levels.

Expert Perspectives

A data scientist says that for most people for smartwatches, it's a "difficult line" - while the rapidly advancing tech could potentially prevent illness, "detecting disease before we notice anything", it could also turn us device users into the "concerned but fine".

He points out that some of the latest wearables can perform tests like heart rhythm analysis, which continuously monitor how normal the heart is. They can notify if someone is experiencing a heart arrhythmia, where there is abnormal 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 preliminary indication they might be more vulnerable of a stroke in the years to come.

But how to interpret these numbers is complex. The expert fears that as further capabilities are incorporated, people may not be able to fully understand 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 agrees. Her work into the impact of wearable tech on a cohort of heart condition patients suggested a noticeable percentage of those who were given devices to monitor their condition experienced heightened worry and were "had a higher tendency to use medical services".

She noted a pattern with her patients - they spotted a concerning reading on their watch. They felt anxious. Their pulse increased. They got increasingly anxious. They looked a second time, and their anxiety went up again.

"When people are presented with data about ourselves that we don't really understand then, of course, we are going to want to know more," the psychologist says. "We look, we re-check - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."