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An atmosphere of building tension. Apparent is the cold breath emanating from my rivals as they execute the "starting line" jiggle on the start line.

A quick twitch of the hips.

I'm at my local weekly parkrun event and I'm serious. Three, two, one...

Hold on. I need to sort my watch. As does the runner beside me.

The person waiting sighs. I refuse to go until… yes! Connection established, I'm off.

In the mele, it's hard to see a person without a fitness tracker on it. And it's not just us runners who rely on them.

We're witnessing a explosive, massive sector. Brands like Samsung Galaxy are prevalent, all offering an wide range of different models to cater to a range of needs. Based on how advanced the device you choose, prices can range from an affordable sum to a small fortune.

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

"It reassures me… It feels like a supporter guiding me."

"Please don't notify me I've experienced a bad night's sleep."

A handful of the reactions people have shared from like-minded smartwatch wearers when I ask what they think of theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My current opinion on my own device? Right now, irritating. It's telling me I'm off pace, causing me to question whether the overhead branches along my route are disrupting my GPS connection.

Countless individuals of us attach these small devices onto our arms and wear them constantly, ostensibly comfortable with the fact they're perpetually monitoring us.

Gone are the days when we depended on them only to give us an idea of our step count. Now, they can analyse our nightly rest, heart rate, oxygen saturation, our VO2 max.

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

But are they able to do what they claim to do? And are the data points we obsess over a faithful picture of reality? Do they enhance our daily wellness, or do the avalanche of readings and cheerleading alerts just increase our sense of overwhelm?

Addiction or Aid?

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

While she values how her device records her workouts, she finds some of its other functions "overwhelming" at times - a feeling that became apparent during a significant period.

Until she found out she could adjust the settings, her smartwatch kept telling her she was not being active enough. Now, the watch keeps telling her she's had a bad night's sleep.

"I have a young baby, I don't need to be told my sleep was poor," she says. "That fact is only too well."

Couldn't she just stop wearing it?

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

How Do They Work?

Every device of smartwatch has its own proprietary way of measuring your bodily functions and interpreting your data, but the most use detectors on the reverse of the watch.

They usually emit small, green LED lights onto your wrist which can observe pulsation, recording your pulse rate. Higher-end devices detect changes in the bioimpedance that passes over the skin to get an idea of your recovery state.

A Fine Balance

A data scientist says that for most people for smartwatches, it's a "delicate equilibrium" - while the rapidly advancing tech could realistically save lives, "detecting disease before we feel unwell", it could also turn us watch wearers into the "worried well".

He points out that newer wearables can conduct tests like medical-grade monitoring, which continuously monitor how normal the heart is. They can alert if someone is experiencing an irregular rhythm, where there is erratic electrical activity in the heart causing an uneven pulse.

This does not necessarily indicate someone is imminently going to suffer a heart attack, but it can give an advance notice they might be more susceptible of a stroke in the long term.

But how to understand these numbers is complicated. The expert fears that as additional features are added, people may not be able to fully understand their data.

"I have some doubts that being able to monitor so much data is such a beneficial thing," he says.

A clinical psychologist specialising in patient behaviour agrees. Her work into the impact of wearable tech on a set of cardiovascular patients suggested a significant portion of those who were given devices to monitor their cardiac function experienced greater stress and were "far more likely to use doctor's time".

She identified a vicious circle with her patients - they saw a alarming metric on their watch. They felt anxious. Their BPM went up. They got increasingly anxious. They checked again, and their reading went up again.

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