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A sense of nervous excitement. Apparent is the frosty air coming from my rivals as they execute the "pre-race" shuffle on the starting line.

A rapid flick of the hips.

I'm at my local Saturday morning race and I'm serious. The countdown begins...

Oh, hang on. I need to adjust my device. As does the person beside me.

The person behind us sighs. I'm not moving until… done! Signal acquired, and I'm running.

In the mele, it's challenging to spot a arm without a wearable on it. And this isn't only us runners who rely on them.

This is a explosive, massive industry. Brands like Garmin dominate, featuring an wide selection of various models to suit a range of budgets. According to how advanced the device you choose, price tags can range from an affordable sum to a small fortune.

"It makes me crazy, I can't stop checking."

"It provides solace… It's like a companion supporting me."

"Please don't notify me about a poor sleep."

A small sample of the responses I've received from other smartwatch wearers when I question what they think of theirs.

The Monitoring Conundrum

My thoughts on mine? Right now, frustrating. It's telling me I'm not hitting my target, causing me to question whether the trees I'm running below are interfering with my satellite signal.

Countless individuals of us strap these compact devices onto our wrists and wear them all day and night, apparently at ease with the fact they're constantly tracking us.

A distant memory are the days when we used them only to give us an idea of our daily steps. Currently, they can analyse our sleep patterns, stress levels, glucose levels, our recovery score.

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

But are they able to do what they claim to do? And are the statistics we obsess over a faithful picture of the truth? Do they enhance our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the plethora of measurements and cheerleading alerts just contribute to our everyday anxiety?

Addiction or Aid?

"I do get a a little obsessed with mine," a wearer admits.

While she loves how her device tracks her exercise, she finds some of its other capabilities "excessive" at times - a feeling that became apparent during a significant period.

Until she found out she could adjust the settings, her smartwatch constantly alerted her she was being insufficiently energetic enough. Later on, the watch insists her she's had a poor sleep score.

"I am caring for a six-month old, it's unnecessary for me to be notified I've not slept," she says. "I know that perfectly well."

Is it not possible to just stop wearing it?

"It's possible, theoretically, but I have this push-pull dynamic with it," she continues. "I love it for its workout tracking, I just wonder whether the additional features it can now do is perhaps excessive for me."

Inside the Device

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

They typically project small, green LED lights onto your skin which can monitor blood flow, identifying your BPM. Sophisticated devices detect changes in the skin conductance that runs through the skin to assess your recovery state.

The Professional Viewpoint

One expert says that overall for smartwatches, it's a "fine balance" - while the ever-evolving tech could realistically prevent illness, "detecting disease before we show symptoms", it could also turn us watch wearers into the "anxious healthy".

He points out that newer wearables can carry out 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 signals in the heart causing an arrhythmia.

This does not mean someone is imminently going to suffer a cardiac event, but it can give an preliminary indication they might be more vulnerable of a blood clot in the years to come.

But how to interpret these readings is complex. The expert concerns that as additional features are incorporated, people may not be able to fully contextualise their data.

"I'm not entirely convinced that being able to monitor so many metrics is such a good idea," he says.

A clinical psychologist focusing on wearable tech agrees. Research 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 "more inclined to use doctor's time".

She identified a vicious circle with her patients - they spotted a worrying figure on their watch. They grew concerned. Their heart rate went up. They got more worried. They checked again, and their heart rate rose further.

"If we see stats about ourselves that we can't properly interpret then, naturally, we are going to seek clarification," the psychologist says. "We look, we check again - it becomes a feedback loop."