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An atmosphere of nervous excitement. I can see the chilled vapour coming from my rivals as they do the "about to run" shuffle on the beginning point.

A rapid twitch of the hips.

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

Wait a second. I need to adjust my device. As does the guy next to me.

The person behind us tuts. I'm not moving until… there! GPS ready, and I'm running.

Amidst the crowd, it's difficult to find a person without a smartwatch on it. And it's not just us participants who wear them.

This is a thriving, massive market. Companies like Apple Watch lead the market, featuring an wide array of diverse versions to fit a variety of lifestyles. Depending on how advanced the watch you select, costs can vary between a hundred pounds to a significant investment.

"It drives me insane, I can't relax."

"It comforts me… It acts as a friend supporting me."

"Stop telling me about a restless night."

A handful of the comments people have shared from other smartwatch wearers when I inquire what they think of theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My thoughts on my own device? Currently, frustrating. It's telling me I'm not hitting my target, causing me to question whether the overhead branches I'm passing under are blocking my location tracking.

A vast number of us attach these little monitors onto our arms and wear them 24/7, ostensibly unconcerned with the fact they're continuously tracking us.

Gone are the days when we relied on them only to give us an idea of our pedometer reading. Currently, they can measure our sleep patterns, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, our body battery.

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

But can they do what they claim to do? And are the statistics we analyse a true reflection of our actual health? Do they enhance our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the multitude of metrics and motivational messages just contribute to our sense of overwhelm?

A Complicated Bond

"I do get a bit fixated with mine," a wearer reveals.

While she loves how her device monitors her workouts, she finds some of its other features "excessive" at times - a feeling initially realised during a significant period.

Prior to discovering she could change its configuration, her smartwatch constantly alerted her she was failing to be active enough. In a new phase, the watch frequently reports her she's had a restless night.

"I've got a six-month old, there's no point to be told I've not slept," she says. "That fact is perfectly well."

Is it not possible to just remove it?

"I could, perhaps, but I've got this push-pull dynamic with it," she says. "I love it for its workout tracking, I just wonder whether the additional features it can now do is possibly excessive for me."

Inside the Device

Each model of smartwatch has its own proprietary way of measuring your bodily functions and processing your data, but the most use detectors on the reverse of the watch.

They usually shine minute LED lights onto your arm which can detect capillary action, detecting your heartbeat. Sophisticated devices measure changes in the skin conductance that runs through the skin to assess your recovery state.

Expert Perspectives

A professor says that for most people for smartwatches, it's a "difficult line" - while the ever-evolving tech could potentially aid early diagnosis, "spotting abnormalities before we feel unwell", it could also turn us the tracked into the "concerned but fine".

He points out that newer wearables can conduct tests like heart rhythm analysis, which regularly monitor how normal the heart is. They can notify if someone is experiencing atrial fibrillation (AF), where there is abnormal impulses in the heart causing an uneven pulse.

This does not mean someone is on the verge of a heart attack, but it can give an advance notice they might be more susceptible of a stroke in the future.

But how to understand these readings is complicated. The expert concerns that as further capabilities are incorporated, people may not be able to fully comprehend their data.

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

A clinical psychologist focusing on cardiology agrees. A study into the effect of wearable tech on a set of individuals with health issues suggested a noticeable percentage of those who were given devices to monitor their condition experienced greater stress and were "had a higher tendency to use medical services".

She identified a vicious circle with her patients - they noticed a concerning reading on their watch. They grew concerned. Their pulse increased. They got more worried. They checked again, and their anxiety increased again.

"When people are presented with stats about ourselves that we can't properly interpret then, naturally, we are going to want to know more," the psychologist says. "We look, we obsess - it becomes a feedback loop."