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There's a feeling of anticipation. Apparent is the frosty air emanating from my competitors as they perform the "pre-race" shuffle on the beginning point.

A swift movement of the hips.

I'm participating in my local weekly parkrun event and I'm focused. Three, two, one...

Wait a second. I must start my device. So does the person next to me.

The person behind us expresses impatience. I'm not moving until… done! Connection established, I'm off.

Amidst the crowd, it's difficult to spot a person without a wearable on it. And this extends beyond us participants who rely on them.

We're witnessing a thriving, multi-billion dollar market. Names like Garmin dominate, featuring an broad range of various models to suit a spectrum of budgets. Based on how advanced the device you choose, costs can start from £100 to thousands of pounds.

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

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

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

A small sample of the reactions I've received from fellow tracker enthusiasts when I inquire what they feel about theirs.

A Sea of Statistics

My current opinion on my own device? Currently, annoying. It's telling me I'm off pace, causing me to question whether the overhead branches I'm passing under are interfering with my location tracking.

Millions of us fasten these little devices onto our wrists and keep them on constantly, seemingly comfortable with the fact they're constantly monitoring us.

Gone are the days when we depended on them exclusively to give us an rough count of our pedometer reading. Now, they can analyse our sleep quality, stress levels, heart rate variability (HRV), our body battery.

It's a challenge to find a physical metric they don't track.

But can they do what they claim to do? And are the statistics we analyse a accurate representation of reality? Do they boost our daily wellness, or do the avalanche of metrics and constant notifications just increase our everyday anxiety?

Addiction or Aid?

"I find myself getting a quite obsessed with mine," one user confesses.

While she values how her device monitors her workouts, she finds some of its other capabilities "overwhelming" 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 failing to be active enough. Now, the watch keeps telling her she's had a restless night.

"I am caring for a infant, there's no point to be told my sleep was poor," she says. "That fact is all too clearly."

Why doesn't she just take it off?

"I could, I suppose, but I have this love-hate relationship with it," she explains. "I love it for its fitness insights, I sometimes question whether the myriad other functions it can now do is perhaps too much for me."

The Technology Behind the Tracking

Every device of smartwatch has its own novel way of measuring your bodily functions and interpreting your data, but the vast bulk use sensors on the back of the watch.

They commonly emit minute LED lights onto your arm which can detect capillary action, detecting your pulse rate. More advanced devices detect changes in the bioimpedance that flows through the skin to gauge your recovery state.

Expert Perspectives

A data scientist says that overall for smartwatches, it's a "difficult line" - while the continuously improving tech could actually aid early diagnosis, "spotting abnormalities before we show symptoms", it could also turn us the tracked into the "worried well".

He points out that newer wearables can perform tests like heart rhythm analysis, which regularly monitor how healthy the heart is. They can notify if someone is experiencing atrial fibrillation (AF), where there is irregular electrical activity in the heart causing an uneven pulse.

This does not automatically signal someone is on the verge of a cardiac event, but it can give an early warning they might be more vulnerable of a blood clot in the years to come.

But how to understand these numbers is complex. The expert concerns that as additional features are added, people may struggle to fully understand their data.

"I'm not entirely convinced that having the capacity to monitor so much data is such a good idea," he says.

A health researcher specialising in wearable tech echoes this sentiment. A study into the effect of wearable tech on a cohort of individuals with health issues suggested a significant portion of those who were given devices to monitor their cardiac function experienced increased anxiety and were "far more likely to use doctor's time".

She observed a pattern with her patients - they spotted a concerning reading on their watch. They became worried. Their heart rate rose. They got even more concerned. They checked again, and their reading went up again.

"When people are presented with numbers about ourselves that we lack context for then, understandably, we are going to seek clarification," the psychologist says. "We monitor, we re-check - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."