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There's a building tension. Visible is the cold breath emanating from my fellow runners as they execute the "pre-race" shuffle on the starting line.

A swift twitch of the hips.

I'm lined up for my local weekly parkrun event and I mean business. The countdown begins...

Wait a second. I must start my device. As does the runner alongside me.

The person in the line tuts. I refuse to go until… yes! Signal acquired, away I go.

Amidst the crowd, it's hard to spot a arm without a wearable on it. And it's not just us runners who wear them.

It's a explosive, massive industry. Names like Samsung Galaxy dominate, all offering an wide range of various models to fit a spectrum of budgets. Based on how high tech the model you go for, prices can range from an affordable sum to a significant investment.

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

"It provides solace… It feels like a supporter encouraging me."

"Please don't notify me about a bad night's sleep."

Just some of the responses I've received from fellow smartwatch wearers when I question what they think of theirs.

The Monitoring Conundrum

My thoughts on my own device? At this moment, annoying. It's telling me I'm not hitting my target, causing me to question whether the overhead branches I'm passing under are blocking my satellite signal.

Countless individuals of us strap these small monitors onto our arms and keep them on constantly, ostensibly unconcerned with the fact they're perpetually tracking us.

Gone are the days when we depended on them exclusively to give us an idea of our daily steps. Currently, they can measure our sleep patterns, blood pressure, glucose levels, our recovery score.

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

But are they able to do what they advertise? And are the data points we scrutinise a true reflection of the truth? Do they enhance our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the multitude of metrics and constant notifications just increase our daily stresses?

Addiction or Aid?

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

While she loves how her device records her exercise, she finds some of its other capabilities "daunting" at times - a feeling that became apparent during a pregnancy.

Prior to discovering she could adjust the settings, her smartwatch constantly alerted her she was being insufficiently productive enough. Later on, the watch frequently reports her she's had a restless night.

"I've got a young baby, there's no point to be told I'm tired," she says. "I know that all too clearly."

Couldn't she just stop wearing it?

"I could, I suppose, but I've got this push-pull dynamic with it," she explains. "I value it for its fitness insights, but I'm unsure whether all the other things it can now do is maybe too much for me."

The Technology Behind the Tracking

Different brands of smartwatch has its own proprietary way of measuring your bodily functions and processing your data, but the majority use sensors on the reverse of the watch.

They commonly shine minute LED lights onto your skin which can detect capillary action, recording your BPM. More advanced devices analyse changes in the electrical current that passes over the skin to gauge your recovery state.

The Professional Viewpoint

A professor says that in general for smartwatches, it's a "fine balance" - while the ever-evolving tech could potentially prevent illness, "identifying issues before we show symptoms", it could also turn us device users into the "worried well".

He points out that newer wearables can carry out tests like heart rhythm analysis, which continuously monitor how normal the heart is. They can flag if someone is experiencing atrial fibrillation (AF), where there is irregular impulses in the heart causing an irregular heartbeat.

This does not mean someone is about to have a cardiac event, but it can give an preliminary indication they might be more at risk of a blood clot in the long term.

But how to make sense of these readings is complex. The expert worries that as further capabilities are incorporated, people may not be able to fully comprehend their data.

"I remain sceptical that being able to monitor so many metrics is such a good idea," he says.

A professor studying wearable tech agrees. Research into the impact of wearable tech on a cohort of cardiovascular patients suggested a noticeable percentage of those who were given devices to monitor their condition experienced heightened worry and were "far more likely to use healthcare resources".

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

"Upon viewing data about ourselves that we can't properly interpret then, understandably, we are going to want to know more," the psychologist says. "We monitor, we obsess - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."