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An atmosphere of feeling of anticipation. Visible is the frosty air exhaled by my competitors as they execute the "starting line" shuffle on the starting line.

A swift movement of the hips.

I'm at my local weekly parkrun event and I'm focused. The countdown begins...

Oh, hang on. I have to sort my tracker. As does the runner next to me.

The person behind us expresses impatience. I'm not moving until… yes! Signal acquired, I'm off.

Amidst the crowd, it's hard to see a person without a wearable on it. And this isn't only us athletes who rely on them.

This is a booming, multi-billion dollar sector. Companies like Samsung Galaxy dominate, all offering an wide selection of various devices to cater to a range of needs. Based on how advanced the model you go for, prices can vary between £100 to thousands of pounds.

"It drives me insane, it's impossible to stop checking."

"It comforts me… It feels like a supporter supporting me."

"Stop telling me about a restless night."

A handful of the comments I've had from other device users when I ask what they feel about theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My current opinion on my own device? At this moment, annoying. It's telling me my speed is wrong, leading me to doubt whether the foliage I'm running below are disrupting my satellite signal.

A vast number of us attach these small gadgets onto our arms and wear them constantly, seemingly at ease with the fact they're constantly monitoring us.

A distant memory are the days when we depended on them only to give us an estimation of our daily steps. Today, they can track our sleep patterns, stress levels, oxygen saturation, our body battery.

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 scrutinise a faithful picture of the truth? Do they improve our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the multitude of readings and constant notifications just increase our everyday anxiety?

A Complicated Bond

"I do get a quite preoccupied with mine," an individual admits.

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

Before she realised she could change its configuration, her smartwatch kept telling her she was failing to be productive enough. Later on, the watch keeps telling her she's had a bad night's sleep.

"I have a six-month old, it's unnecessary for me to be notified I'm tired," she says. "I know that only too well."

Is it not possible to just remove it?

"I suppose I could, I suppose, but I've got this love-hate relationship with it," she continues. "I value it for its workout tracking, but I'm unsure whether the additional features it can now do is possibly overkill for me."

Inside the Device

Every device of smartwatch has its own novel way of tracking your bodily functions and processing your data, but the majority use sensors on the underside of the watch.

They usually emit small, green LED lights onto your skin which can detect capillary action, detecting your pulse rate. Sophisticated devices measure changes in the electrical current that runs through the skin to assess your recovery state.

Expert Perspectives

One expert says that in general for smartwatches, it's a "fine balance" - while the continuously improving tech could realistically save lives, "detecting disease before we feel unwell", it could also turn us the tracked into the "anxious healthy".

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

This does not automatically signal someone is imminently going to suffer a cardiac event, but it can give an preliminary indication they might be more vulnerable of a stroke in the long term.

But how to understand these numbers is complex. The expert fears that as further capabilities are incorporated, people may struggle to fully understand their data.

"I have some doubts that the ability to monitor so many metrics is such a beneficial thing," he says.

A health researcher studying cardiology concurs. A study into the impact of wearable tech on a specific group of individuals with health issues suggested a noticeable percentage of those who were given devices to monitor their cardiac function experienced increased anxiety and were "had a higher tendency to use healthcare resources".

She observed a pattern with her patients - they noticed a worrying figure on their watch. They became worried. Their heart rate went up. They got even more concerned. They checked again, and their reading increased again.

"When people are presented with stats about ourselves that we can't properly interpret then, of course, we are going to become concerned," the psychologist says. "We monitor, we re-check - it becomes a vicious cycle."