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A sense of building tension. Apparent is the cold breath emanating from my rivals as they do the "pre-race" shuffle on the start line.

A rapid flick of the hips.

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

Hold on. I must start my tracker. As does the guy next to me.

The person in the line tuts. I'm not moving until… yes! Connection established, away I go.

Amidst the crowd, it's challenging to see a person without a smartwatch on it. And this extends beyond us participants who use them.

We're witnessing a thriving, massive industry. Companies like Garmin dominate, each with an extensive array of various models to cater to a variety of lifestyles. Based on how high tech the device you go for, price tags can range from an affordable sum to a significant investment.

"I find it infuriating, it's impossible to switch off."

"It comforts me… It's like a supporter encouraging me."

"I wish it wouldn't say about a restless night."

A handful of the responses I've received from fellow device users when I inquire what they feel about theirs.

A Sea of Statistics

My feelings on mine? At this moment, annoying. It's telling me I'm off pace, causing me to question whether the trees I'm passing under are blocking my satellite signal.

A vast number of us fasten these compact monitors onto our wrists and wear them all day and night, seemingly at ease with the fact they're constantly recording us.

A distant memory are the days when we used them only to give us an rough count of our step count. Today, they can analyse our nightly rest, stress levels, heart rate variability (HRV), our recovery score.

It's a challenge to find a health indicator they don't track.

But are they able to do what they say they do? And are the statistics we obsess over a faithful picture of the truth? Do they boost our daily wellness, or do the avalanche of measurements and motivational messages just contribute to our daily stresses?

Addiction or Aid?

"I find myself getting a quite fixated with mine," a wearer confesses.

While she loves how her device monitors her workouts, she finds some of its other functions "excessive" at times - a feeling that became apparent during a major life event.

Prior to discovering she could adjust the settings, her smartwatch kept telling her she was being insufficiently active enough. In a new phase, the watch frequently reports her she's had a poor sleep score.

"I am caring for a six-month old, it's unnecessary for me to be informed I'm tired," she says. "I'm acutely aware only too well."

Couldn't she just take it off?

"It's possible, I suppose, but I'm in this push-pull dynamic with it," she explains. "I love it for its exercise data, I just wonder whether the additional features it can now do is maybe excessive for me."

How Do They Work?

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

They typically emit small, green LED lights onto your skin which can monitor pulsation, identifying your pulse rate. More advanced devices analyse changes in the bioimpedance that runs through the skin to gauge your nervous system activity.

A Fine Balance

A professor says that in general for smartwatches, it's a "delicate equilibrium" - while the ever-evolving tech could actually prevent illness, "identifying issues before we show symptoms", it could also turn us watch wearers into the "anxious healthy".

He points out that the most advanced wearables can perform tests like electrocardiograms (ECGs), which regularly monitor how healthy the heart is. They can flag if someone is experiencing atrial fibrillation (AF), where there is erratic impulses in the heart causing an uneven pulse.

This does not necessarily indicate someone is on the verge of a cardiac event, but it can give an early warning they might be more susceptible of a heart problem in the long term.

But how to make sense of these figures is not straightforward. The expert fears that as additional features are added, people may struggle to fully contextualise their data.

"I remain sceptical that having the capacity to monitor so much data is such a beneficial thing," he says.

A health researcher studying patient behaviour agrees. Research into the impact of wearable tech on a cohort of heart condition patients suggested a significant portion of those who were given devices to monitor their condition experienced heightened worry and were "more inclined to use healthcare resources".

She observed a vicious circle with her patients - they spotted a alarming metric on their watch. They felt anxious. Their BPM rose. They got increasingly anxious. They looked a second time, and their reading rose further.

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