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There's a nervous excitement. Visible is the cold breath emanating from my fellow runners as they perform the "about to run" wiggle on the starting line.

A rapid twitch of the hips.

I'm participating in my local 5km community parkrun and I mean business. It's almost time...

Hold on. I need to adjust my watch. So does the person next to me.

The person waiting expresses impatience. I'm not moving until… done! Signal acquired, and I'm running.

During the scramble, it's difficult to see a arm without a wearable on it. And it's not just us athletes who rely on them.

We're witnessing a explosive, multi-billion pound sector. Companies like Apple Watch lead the market, all offering an broad range of different versions to cater to a variety of lifestyles. According to how advanced the model you select, costs can range from an affordable sum to a small fortune.

"I find it infuriating, I can't relax."

"It comforts me… It acts as a companion encouraging me."

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

Just some of the responses people have shared from fellow smartwatch wearers when I inquire what they their opinion is on theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My thoughts on mine? Currently, frustrating. It's reporting I'm off pace, making me wonder whether the foliage I'm passing under are disrupting my satellite signal.

A vast number of us attach these small monitors onto our arms and keep them on 24/7, seemingly at ease with the fact they're constantly monitoring us.

Gone are the days when we used them exclusively to give us an estimation of our step count. Currently, they can track our nightly rest, stress levels, oxygen saturation, our body battery.

It's difficult to find a health indicator they aren't designed to measure.

But can they do what they say they do? And are the numbers we analyse a true reflection of our actual health? Do they boost our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the multitude of measurements and cheerleading alerts just contribute to our sense of overwhelm?

A Love-Hate Relationship

"I become a quite preoccupied with mine," one user confesses.

While she appreciates how her device monitors her exercise, she finds some of its other capabilities "overwhelming" at times - a feeling initially realised during a significant period.

Until she found out she could put it into a specific mode, her smartwatch kept telling her she was failing to be productive enough. Later on, the watch insists her she's had a restless night.

"I have a six-month old, I don't need to be notified my sleep was poor," she says. "That fact is all too clearly."

Why doesn't she just stop wearing it?

"It's possible, I suppose, but I've got this push-pull 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 maybe overkill for me."

The Technology Behind the Tracking

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

They usually shine tiny, coloured LED lights onto your skin which can observe blood flow, identifying your heartbeat. More advanced devices measure changes in the bioimpedance that passes over the skin to assess your stress levels.

A Fine Balance

A professor says that in general for smartwatches, it's a "fine balance" - while the rapidly advancing tech could actually prevent illness, "spotting abnormalities before we notice anything", it could also turn us the tracked into the "worried well".

He points out that the most advanced wearables can carry out tests like heart rhythm analysis, which regularly monitor how normal the heart is. They can alert if someone is experiencing an irregular rhythm, where there is erratic signals in the heart causing an irregular heartbeat.

This does not necessarily indicate someone is about to have a cardiac event, but it can give an early warning they might be more vulnerable of a blood clot in the long term.

But how to understand these numbers is complex. The expert worries that as more functions are introduced, people may struggle to fully contextualise their data.

"I'm not entirely convinced that the ability to monitor so many metrics is such a beneficial thing," he says.

A professor studying wearable tech concurs. A study into the effect of wearable tech on a specific group of heart condition patients suggested a minority of those who were given devices to monitor their condition experienced heightened worry and were "had a higher tendency to use doctor's time".

She identified a cycle with her patients - they saw a worrying figure on their watch. They became worried. Their pulse increased. They got even more concerned. They checked again, and their heart rate rose further.

"If we see stats about ourselves that we lack context for then, naturally, we are going to seek clarification," the psychologist says. "We look, we re-check - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."