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An atmosphere of nervous excitement. Visible is the chilled vapour exhaled by my rivals as they perform the "about to run" shuffle on the starting line.

A quick twitch of the hips.

I'm lined up for my local weekly parkrun event and I mean business. It's almost time...

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

The person waiting sighs. I'm not moving until… done! GPS ready, and I'm running.

Amidst the crowd, it's difficult to spot a wrist without a fitness tracker on it. And this extends beyond us participants who wear them.

It's a thriving, massive sector. Brands like Samsung Galaxy lead the market, each with an broad array of different versions to fit a variety of needs. Based on how high tech the watch you choose, costs can vary between a hundred pounds to a significant investment.

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

"It reassures me… It acts as a supporter guiding me."

"Please don't notify me I've had a restless night."

A small sample of the reactions people have shared from fellow device users when I inquire what they think of theirs.

The Monitoring Conundrum

My current opinion on my own device? At this moment, frustrating. It's indicating I'm not hitting my target, causing me to question whether the foliage I'm passing under are blocking my satellite signal.

Countless individuals of us attach these small gadgets onto our arms and keep them on 24/7, seemingly unconcerned with the fact they're constantly recording us.

Gone are the days when we depended on them solely to give us an idea of our step count. Currently, they can measure our sleep quality, heart rate, glucose levels, our recovery score.

It's difficult to find a physical metric they fail to monitor.

But can they do what they advertise? And are the statistics we scrutinise a faithful picture of reality? Do they improve our overall health, or do the plethora of metrics and motivational messages just contribute to our everyday anxiety?

A Complicated Bond

"I find myself getting a a little fixated with mine," one user confesses.

While she values how her device tracks her workouts, she finds some of its other features "daunting" at times - a feeling initially realised during a pregnancy.

Until she found out she could change its configuration, her smartwatch constantly alerted her she was not being productive enough. Now, the watch insists her she's had a poor sleep score.

"I've got a young baby, there's no point to be told I'm tired," she says. "I'm acutely aware only too well."

Why doesn't she just stop wearing it?

"It's possible, perhaps, but I have this push-pull dynamic with it," she explains. "I appreciate it for its workout tracking, I just wonder whether the myriad other functions it can now do is possibly too much for me."

How Do They Work?

Each model of smartwatch has its own novel way of measuring your bodily functions and interpreting your data, but the vast bulk use optical sensors on the reverse of the watch.

They usually project small, green LED lights onto your skin which can detect capillary action, recording your pulse rate. Higher-end devices detect changes in the skin conductance that flows through the skin to get an idea of your nervous system activity.

Expert Perspectives

One expert says that for most people for smartwatches, it's a "delicate equilibrium" - while the ever-evolving tech could potentially prevent illness, "detecting disease before we feel unwell", it could also turn us device users into the "anxious healthy".

He points out that some of the latest wearables can carry out tests like heart rhythm analysis, which regularly monitor how stable the heart is. They can notify if someone is experiencing an irregular rhythm, where there is abnormal electrical activity in the heart causing an arrhythmia.

This does not mean someone is on the verge of a heart attack, but it can give an early warning they might be more vulnerable of a blood clot in the long term.

But how to make sense of these figures is not straightforward. The expert concerns that as additional features are incorporated, people may struggle to fully understand their data.

"I'm not entirely convinced that the ability to monitor so many things is such a beneficial thing," he says.

A clinical psychologist specialising in patient behaviour echoes this sentiment. Research into the impact of wearable tech on a specific group of heart condition patients suggested a noticeable percentage of those who were given devices to monitor their cardiac function experienced greater stress and were "more inclined to use doctor's time".

She observed a vicious circle with her patients - they spotted a concerning reading on their watch. They became worried. Their pulse went up. They got even more concerned. They checked again, and their reading increased again.

"When people are presented with numbers about ourselves that we don't really understand then, naturally, we are going to become concerned," the psychologist says. "We check, we re-check - it becomes a feedback loop."