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A sense of building tension. I can see the frosty air coming from my rivals as they perform the "starting line" wiggle on the start line.

A quick flick of the hips.

I'm participating in my local 5km community parkrun and I'm serious. The countdown begins...

Wait a second. I must adjust my device. As does the guy beside me.

The person behind us expresses impatience. I'm not moving until… there! Connection established, away I go.

In the mele, it's challenging to see a arm without a smartwatch on it. And this isn't only us runners who use them.

It's a explosive, massive industry. Names like Apple Watch are prevalent, featuring an wide array of various versions to cater to a spectrum of budgets. According to how high tech the device you select, costs can vary between a hundred pounds to a significant investment.

"It makes me crazy, I'm unable to switch off."

"It comforts me… It feels like a friend supporting me."

"I wish it wouldn't say I've experienced a bad night's sleep."

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

A Sea of Statistics

My thoughts on mine? At this moment, frustrating. It's telling me I'm not hitting my target, causing me to question whether the trees I'm running below are blocking my satellite signal.

Millions of us attach these compact monitors onto our wrists and wear them 24/7, apparently comfortable with the fact they're constantly recording us.

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

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

But can they do what they say they do? And are the data points we analyse a faithful picture of reality? Do they enhance our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the plethora of metrics and cheerleading alerts just contribute to our sense of overwhelm?

A Complicated Bond

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

While she loves how her device records her runs, she finds some of its other capabilities "daunting" at times - a feeling initially realised during a pregnancy.

Prior to discovering she could adjust the settings, her smartwatch kept telling her she was not being energetic enough. Later on, the watch frequently reports her she's had a restless night.

"I am caring for a infant, I don't need to be notified I've not slept," she says. "That fact is perfectly well."

Is it not possible to just stop wearing it?

"I suppose I could, theoretically, but I have this love-hate relationship with it," she says. "I appreciate it for its exercise data, I just wonder whether all the other things it can now do is possibly excessive for me."

The Technology Behind the Tracking

Every device of smartwatch has its own unique way of tracking your vitals and interpreting your data, but the vast bulk use sensors on the reverse of the watch.

They usually emit minute LED lights onto your arm which can observe pulsation, detecting your heartbeat. More advanced devices analyse changes in the skin conductance that runs through the skin to get an idea of your recovery state.

The Professional Viewpoint

A professor says that for most people for smartwatches, it's a "fine balance" - while the rapidly advancing tech could realistically save lives, "spotting abnormalities before we feel unwell", it could also turn us the tracked into the "anxious healthy".

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 alert if someone is experiencing atrial fibrillation (AF), where there is erratic electrical activity in the heart causing an uneven pulse.

This does not mean someone is on the verge of a cardiac event, but it can give an advance notice they might be more vulnerable of a heart problem in the future.

But how to understand these numbers is complex. The expert worries that as more functions are incorporated, people may struggle to fully contextualise their data.

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

A clinical psychologist studying cardiology concurs. Research into the effect of wearable tech on a specific group of heart condition patients suggested a minority 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 pattern with her patients - they noticed a concerning reading on their watch. They became worried. Their heart rate rose. They got even more concerned. They re-examined the data, and their heart rate rose further.

"Upon viewing data about ourselves that we don't really understand then, understandably, we are going to become concerned," the psychologist says. "We monitor, we check again - it becomes a vicious cycle."