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There's a feeling of anticipation. Apparent is the chilled vapour exhaled by my fellow runners as they execute the "about to run" jiggle on the start line.

A quick flick of the hips.

I'm at my local 5km community parkrun and I'm focused. It's almost time...

Wait a second. I have to start my device. The same goes for the person alongside me.

The person in the line tuts. I'm not moving until… done! Connection established, I'm off.

During the scramble, it's challenging to spot a person without a smartwatch on it. And it's not just us participants who wear them.

We're witnessing a explosive, multi-billion dollar market. Brands like Samsung Galaxy lead the market, each with an extensive array of various versions to suit a range of budgets. Depending on how advanced the watch you choose, price tags can vary between an affordable sum to a significant investment.

"It drives me insane, I'm unable to relax."

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

"Please don't notify me about a bad night's sleep."

A handful of the comments I've received from like-minded device users when I question what they feel about theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My current opinion on mine? Currently, irritating. It's telling me my speed is wrong, making me wonder whether the foliage I'm running below are disrupting my satellite signal.

Countless individuals of us fasten these little gadgets onto our wrists and use them constantly, apparently at ease with the fact they're constantly tracking us.

A distant memory are the days when we relied on them exclusively to give us an rough count of our pedometer reading. Today, they can track our nightly rest, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, our body battery.

It's difficult to find a physical metric they aren't designed to measure.

But do they do what they claim to do? And are the data points we scrutinise a true reflection of the truth? Do they boost our daily wellness, or do the avalanche of readings and cheerleading alerts just contribute to our sense of overwhelm?

Addiction or Aid?

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

While she values how her device tracks her exercise, she finds some of its other functions "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 constantly alerted her she was failing to be energetic enough. Now, the watch frequently reports her she's had a poor sleep score.

"I am caring for a infant, it's unnecessary for me to be notified I've not slept," she says. "That fact is only too well."

Why doesn't she just remove it?

"I suppose I could, theoretically, but I've got this push-pull dynamic with it," she continues. "I value it for its exercise data, I sometimes question whether the additional features it can now do is perhaps excessive for me."

The Technology Behind the Tracking

Each model of smartwatch has its own novel way of measuring your vitals and interpreting your data, but the vast bulk use sensors on the back of the watch.

They commonly project small, green LED lights onto your skin which can observe pulsation, recording your BPM. Sophisticated devices analyse changes in the electrical current that flows through the skin to get an idea of your recovery state.

A Fine Balance

A professor says that overall for smartwatches, it's a "difficult line" - while the continuously improving tech could potentially prevent illness, "identifying issues before we notice anything", it could also turn us the tracked into the "concerned but fine".

He points out that newer wearables can carry out tests like medical-grade monitoring, which constantly monitor how stable the heart is. They can notify if someone is experiencing atrial fibrillation (AF), where there is irregular impulses in the heart causing an arrhythmia.

This does not mean someone is on the verge of a heart attack, but it can give an preliminary indication they might be more susceptible of a stroke in the years to come.

But how to understand these readings is complicated. The expert concerns that as further capabilities are added, people may find it hard to fully contextualise their data.

"I have some doubts that having the capacity to monitor so many things is such a positive development," he says.

A clinical psychologist specialising in patient behaviour echoes this sentiment. A study into the impact of wearable tech on a set of cardiovascular patients suggested a minority of those who were given devices to monitor their condition experienced heightened worry and were "far more likely to use healthcare resources".

She observed a cycle with her patients - they noticed a worrying figure on their watch. They became worried. Their heart rate increased. They got increasingly anxious. They re-examined the data, and their anxiety rose further.

"Upon viewing 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 self-fulfilling prophecy."