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An atmosphere of nervous excitement. Visible is the frosty air emanating from my fellow runners as they perform the "starting line" shuffle on the starting line.

A quick twitch of the hips.

I'm participating in my local weekly parkrun event and I'm serious. The countdown begins...

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

The person waiting expresses impatience. I'm not moving until… there! Connection established, and I'm running.

In the mele, it's hard to spot a person without a fitness tracker on it. And this extends beyond us runners who use them.

This is a thriving, multi-billion dollar market. Brands like Garmin dominate, featuring an extensive range of different versions to suit a spectrum of budgets. Based on how high tech the model you go for, prices can range from an affordable sum to a small fortune.

"It makes me crazy, it's impossible to switch off."

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

"I wish it wouldn't say I've had a bad night's sleep."

Just some of the responses I've had from other smartwatch wearers when I question what they feel about theirs.

A Sea of Statistics

My thoughts on mine? At this moment, frustrating. It's indicating I'm not hitting my target, making me wonder whether the trees along my route are blocking my GPS connection.

Millions of us attach these compact devices onto our arms and keep them on constantly, apparently unconcerned with the fact they're continuously tracking us.

A distant memory are the days when we depended on them solely to give us an idea of our step count. Now, they can analyse our sleep quality, blood pressure, glucose levels, our recovery score.

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

But are they able to do what they say they do? And are the statistics we obsess over a true reflection of our actual health? Do they improve our overall health, or do the multitude of metrics and motivational messages just contribute to our sense of overwhelm?

A Love-Hate Relationship

"I do get a bit obsessed with mine," one user reveals.

While she appreciates how her device tracks her runs, 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 kept telling her she was not being active enough. Later on, the watch frequently reports her she's had a restless night.

"I've got a six-month old, there's no point to be informed my sleep was poor," she says. "That fact is only too well."

Couldn't she just remove it?

"I suppose I could, perhaps, but I have this push-pull dynamic with it," she explains. "I love it for its fitness insights, I sometimes question whether the additional features it can now do is possibly excessive for me."

Inside the Device

Every device of smartwatch has its own proprietary way of measuring your bodily functions and processing your data, but the majority use detectors on the reverse of the watch.

They commonly emit tiny, coloured LED lights onto your arm which can detect capillary action, identifying your heartbeat. Sophisticated devices detect changes in the electrical current that runs through the skin to get an idea of your nervous system activity.

Expert Perspectives

A data scientist says that overall for smartwatches, it's a "fine balance" - while the ever-evolving tech could potentially prevent illness, "spotting abnormalities before we notice anything", it could also turn us device users into the "anxious healthy".

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

This does not necessarily indicate someone is on the verge of a cardiac event, but it can give an early warning they might be more vulnerable of a blood clot in the future.

But how to understand these numbers is not straightforward. The expert fears that as additional features are introduced, people may find it hard to fully comprehend their data.

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

A clinical psychologist focusing on wearable tech agrees. Research into the impact of wearable tech on a cohort of cardiovascular patients 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 doctor's time".

She observed a vicious circle with her patients - they saw a worrying figure on their watch. They became worried. Their BPM went up. They got more worried. They re-examined the data, and their heart rate increased again.

"When people are presented with numbers about ourselves that we lack context for then, understandably, we are going to seek clarification," the psychologist says. "We look, we re-check - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."