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There's a feeling of anticipation. Visible is the frosty air coming from my fellow runners as they perform the "starting line" wiggle on the starting line.

A rapid movement of the hips.

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

Hold on. I need to start my tracker. The same goes for the guy next to me.

The person waiting sighs. I won't start until… there! Signal acquired, away I go.

Amidst the crowd, it's hard to see a arm without a fitness tracker on it. And it's not just us participants who rely on them.

This is a explosive, multi-billion dollar market. Brands like Apple Watch are prevalent, all offering an wide array of various versions to fit a spectrum of budgets. According to how high tech the device you choose, price tags can vary between a hundred pounds to a significant investment.

"It makes me crazy, I'm unable to stop checking."

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

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

A small sample of the comments I've had from fellow device users when I question what they think of theirs.

The Monitoring Conundrum

My thoughts on my own device? At this moment, irritating. It's indicating I'm not hitting my target, making me wonder whether the overhead branches I'm running below are blocking my satellite signal.

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

Long past are the days when we relied on them exclusively to give us an estimation of our daily steps. Now, they can measure our sleep quality, heart rate, glucose levels, our recovery score.

It's difficult to find a bodily function they fail to monitor.

But do they do what they say they do? And are the numbers we obsess over a faithful picture of reality? Do they enhance our daily wellness, or do the avalanche of metrics and motivational messages just increase our sense of overwhelm?

Addiction or Aid?

"I find myself getting a bit fixated with mine," one user reveals.

While she appreciates how her device tracks her exercise, she finds some of its other features "excessive" at times - a feeling that became apparent during a major life event.

Until she found out she could change its configuration, her smartwatch constantly alerted her she was being insufficiently active enough. Now, the watch keeps telling her she's had a bad night's sleep.

"I have a infant, it's unnecessary for me to be informed I've not slept," she says. "That fact is all too clearly."

Couldn't she just stop wearing it?

"It's possible, perhaps, but I've got this push-pull dynamic with it," she continues. "I love it for its fitness insights, but I'm unsure whether the myriad other functions it can now do is perhaps too much for me."

The Technology Behind the Tracking

Every device of smartwatch has its own proprietary way of tracking your bodily functions and interpreting your data, but the majority use sensors on the reverse of the watch.

They typically shine tiny, coloured LED lights onto your wrist which can detect pulsation, detecting your heartbeat. More advanced devices detect changes in the electrical current that passes over the skin to get an idea of your stress levels.

The Professional Viewpoint

A professor says that overall for smartwatches, it's a "delicate equilibrium" - while the ever-evolving tech could actually save lives, "spotting abnormalities before we feel unwell", it could also turn us device users into the "concerned but fine".

He points out that some of the latest wearables can conduct tests like electrocardiograms (ECGs), which regularly monitor how stable the heart is. They can alert if someone is experiencing an irregular rhythm, where there is abnormal impulses in the heart causing an uneven pulse.

This does not automatically signal someone is about to have a cardiac event, but it can give an preliminary indication they might be more vulnerable of a blood clot in the future.

But how to interpret these readings is not straightforward. The expert fears that as additional features are added, people may struggle to fully comprehend their data.

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

A clinical psychologist specialising in patient behaviour concurs. Her work into the effect of wearable tech on a cohort of heart condition patients suggested a significant portion of those who were given devices to monitor their heart health experienced heightened worry and were "had a higher tendency to use medical services".

She identified a cycle with her patients - they spotted a alarming metric on their watch. They felt anxious. Their pulse went up. They got increasingly anxious. They looked a second time, and their reading increased again.

"When people are presented with numbers about ourselves that we don't really understand then, understandably, we are going to seek clarification," the psychologist says. "We check, we check again - it becomes a feedback loop."