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A sense of feeling of anticipation. Apparent is the frosty air exhaled by my fellow runners as they perform the "about to run" jiggle on the beginning point.

A rapid flick 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 device. The same goes for the runner alongside me.

The person in the line sighs. I'm not moving until… there! Signal acquired, and I'm running.

Amidst the crowd, it's difficult to find a wrist without a wearable on it. And this isn't only us runners who wear them.

We're witnessing a booming, multi-billion pound market. Companies like Apple Watch are prevalent, each with an broad array of diverse versions to fit a spectrum of lifestyles. Depending on how high tech the model you go for, prices can start from £100 to thousands of pounds.

"I find it infuriating, I'm unable to relax."

"It provides solace… It acts as a supporter supporting me."

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

A handful of the reactions I've received from like-minded tracker enthusiasts when I inquire what they their opinion is on theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My feelings on my own device? Right now, frustrating. It's indicating I'm off pace, causing me to question whether the overhead branches I'm passing under are interfering with my location tracking.

Countless individuals of us attach these small devices onto our arms and keep them on constantly, apparently at ease with the fact they're constantly recording us.

Gone are the days when we depended on them solely to give us an rough count of our pedometer reading. Currently, they can track our sleep patterns, heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), our body battery.

It's tricky to find a bodily function they don't track.

But do they do what they claim to do? And are the statistics we scrutinise a accurate representation of reality? Do they enhance our daily wellness, or do the multitude of measurements and motivational messages just increase our everyday anxiety?

Addiction or Aid?

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

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 pregnancy.

Before she realised she could change its configuration, her smartwatch constantly alerted her she was being insufficiently active enough. Later on, the watch keeps telling her she's had a restless night.

"I've got a six-month old, there's no point to be informed I'm tired," she says. "I'm acutely aware all too clearly."

Why doesn't she just stop wearing it?

"I could, perhaps, but I have this complicated dynamic with it," she says. "I value it for its exercise data, I sometimes question whether all the other things it can now do is perhaps excessive for me."

How Do They Work?

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

They commonly project tiny, coloured LED lights onto your wrist which can detect pulsation, detecting your pulse rate. Higher-end devices detect changes in the bioimpedance that runs through the skin to gauge your stress levels.

A Fine Balance

A data scientist says that in general for smartwatches, it's a "difficult line" - while the rapidly advancing tech could realistically prevent illness, "detecting disease before we notice anything", it could also turn us device users into the "worried well".

He points out that newer wearables can perform tests like heart rhythm analysis, which continuously monitor how normal the heart is. They can flag if someone is experiencing an irregular rhythm, where there is abnormal signals in the heart causing an uneven pulse.

This does not automatically signal someone is imminently going to suffer a heart attack, but it can give an preliminary indication they might be more vulnerable of a stroke in the future.

But how to understand these figures is not straightforward. The expert worries that as additional features are added, people may not be able to fully comprehend their data.

"I remain sceptical that the ability to monitor so many metrics is such a positive development," he says.

A professor studying patient behaviour echoes this sentiment. Research into the impact 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 greater stress and were "more inclined to use doctor's time".

She identified a cycle with her patients - they spotted a concerning reading on their watch. They became worried. Their heart rate increased. They got increasingly anxious. They checked again, and their reading went up again.

"If we see data about ourselves that we can't properly interpret then, understandably, we are going to become concerned," the psychologist says. "We check, we obsess - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."