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An atmosphere of building tension. I can see the cold breath emanating from my fellow runners as they perform the "pre-race" shuffle on the start line.

A swift movement of the hips.

I'm lined up for my local 5km community parkrun and I'm serious. The countdown begins...

Hold on. I need to adjust my tracker. As does the person alongside me.

The person in the line expresses impatience. I refuse to go until… yes! Signal acquired, away I go.

Amidst the crowd, it's challenging to find a wrist without a smartwatch on it. And this isn't only us athletes who use them.

We're witnessing a thriving, massive sector. Brands like Samsung Galaxy lead the market, each with an broad selection of various versions to suit a range of needs. Based on how feature-packed the model you choose, price tags can start from £100 to a small fortune.

"It drives me insane, I can't switch off."

"It comforts me… It acts as a supporter guiding me."

"Please don't notify me I've experienced a restless night."

A small sample of the reactions people have shared from other tracker enthusiasts when I inquire what they think of theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My current opinion on my own device? Right now, frustrating. It's indicating I'm not hitting my target, causing me to question whether the overhead branches along my route are interfering with my location tracking.

Millions of us attach these small devices onto our wrists and keep them on 24/7, seemingly comfortable with the fact they're continuously monitoring us.

A distant memory are the days when we used them exclusively to give us an rough count of our pedometer reading. Now, they can measure our nightly rest, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, our recovery score.

It's difficult to find a health indicator they don't track.

But do they do what they claim to do? And are the statistics we scrutinise a true reflection of reality? Do they boost our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the avalanche of measurements and motivational messages just increase our sense of overwhelm?

A Complicated Bond

"I become a quite fixated with mine," an individual confesses.

While she loves how her device records her workouts, she finds some of its other features "excessive" at times - a feeling that became apparent during a pregnancy.

Prior to discovering she could adjust the settings, her smartwatch kept telling her she was not being energetic enough. Later on, the watch keeps telling her she's had a poor sleep score.

"I've got a young baby, I don't need to be notified I've not slept," she says. "That fact is all too clearly."

Why doesn't she just take it off?

"It's possible, I suppose, but I'm in this complicated dynamic with it," she explains. "I appreciate it for its workout tracking, but I'm unsure whether the additional features it can now do is possibly excessive for me."

The Technology Behind the Tracking

Each model of smartwatch has its own proprietary way of tracking your bodily functions and processing your data, but the majority use optical sensors on the back of the watch.

They commonly emit minute LED lights onto your wrist which can detect pulsation, recording your heartbeat. Sophisticated devices detect changes in the bioimpedance that flows through the skin to gauge your nervous system activity.

The Professional Viewpoint

One expert says that in general for smartwatches, it's a "difficult line" - while the rapidly advancing tech could realistically aid early diagnosis, "detecting disease before we show symptoms", it could also turn us watch wearers into the "worried well".

He points out that some of the latest wearables can carry out tests like heart rhythm analysis, which regularly monitor how normal the heart is. They can alert if someone is experiencing a heart arrhythmia, where there is abnormal signals in the heart causing an arrhythmia.

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

But how to make sense of these figures is complicated. The expert concerns that as additional features are added, people may struggle to fully contextualise their data.

"I remain sceptical that being able to monitor so many metrics is such a positive development," he says.

A health researcher studying cardiology concurs. Research into the effect of wearable tech on a set of heart condition patients suggested a significant portion of those who were given devices to monitor their heart health experienced heightened worry and were "far more likely to use medical services".

She observed a vicious circle with her patients - they noticed a alarming metric on their watch. They grew concerned. Their heart rate went up. They got more worried. They looked a second time, and their anxiety went up again.

"Upon viewing numbers about ourselves that we lack context for then, understandably, we are going to seek clarification," the psychologist says. "We check, we re-check - it becomes a vicious cycle."