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There's a nervous excitement. I can see the cold breath emanating from my competitors as they do the "pre-race" shuffle on the start line.

A rapid twitch of the hips.

I'm lined up for my local Saturday morning race and I'm serious. The countdown begins...

Oh, hang on. I need to sort my tracker. So does the guy beside me.

The person behind us expresses impatience. I won't start until… yes! GPS ready, I'm off.

Amidst the crowd, it's challenging to find a wrist without a fitness tracker on it. And it's not just us athletes who use them.

We're witnessing a explosive, multi-billion pound market. Companies like Garmin lead the market, featuring an broad selection of diverse models to cater to a spectrum of lifestyles. Based on how advanced the watch you select, price tags can start from a hundred pounds to a significant investment.

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

"It provides solace… It acts as a supporter encouraging me."

"Please don't notify me I've experienced a poor sleep."

A handful of the responses I've received from fellow tracker enthusiasts when I ask what they think of theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My current opinion on mine? Currently, frustrating. It's telling me I'm off pace, causing me to question whether the trees I'm passing under are blocking my location tracking.

Countless individuals of us attach these small gadgets onto our arms and use them all day and night, apparently comfortable with the fact they're continuously monitoring us.

Gone are the days when we used them exclusively to give us an estimation of our pedometer reading. Now, they can measure our sleep patterns, blood pressure, heart rate variability (HRV), our recovery score.

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

But do they do what they claim to do? And are the data points we obsess over a faithful picture of reality? Do they enhance our daily wellness, or do the avalanche of measurements and cheerleading alerts just add to our everyday anxiety?

A Love-Hate Relationship

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

While she appreciates how her device records her exercise, she finds some of its other functions "overwhelming" at times - a feeling first discovered during a major life event.

Prior to discovering she could change its configuration, her smartwatch repeatedly informed her she was not being energetic enough. Later on, the watch insists her she's had a restless night.

"I have a young baby, I don't need to be notified my sleep was poor," she says. "I know that only too well."

Is it not possible to just take it off?

"It's possible, theoretically, but I have this push-pull dynamic with it," she continues. "I love it for its fitness insights, but I'm unsure whether all the other things it can now do is perhaps excessive for me."

Inside the Device

Every device of smartwatch has its own proprietary way of monitoring your health metrics and interpreting your data, but the majority use sensors on the back of the watch.

They usually project small, green LED lights onto your wrist which can monitor capillary action, recording your pulse rate. More advanced devices detect changes in the bioimpedance that flows through the skin to assess your stress levels.

Expert Perspectives

A professor says that overall for smartwatches, it's a "delicate equilibrium" - while the ever-evolving tech could realistically aid early diagnosis, "identifying issues before we show symptoms", it could also turn us device users into the "worried well".

He points out that some of the latest wearables can perform tests like medical-grade monitoring, which regularly monitor how healthy the heart is. They can flag if someone is experiencing an irregular rhythm, where there is irregular impulses in the heart causing an arrhythmia.

This does not necessarily indicate someone is about to have a cardiac event, but it can give an advance notice they might be more vulnerable of a blood clot in the future.

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

"I have some doubts that being able to monitor so many things is such a beneficial thing," he says.

A professor specialising in wearable tech agrees. Research into the effect of wearable tech on a cohort of cardiovascular patients suggested a minority of those who were given devices to monitor their heart health experienced greater stress and were "far more likely to use doctor's time".

She noted a cycle with her patients - they saw a concerning reading on their watch. They became worried. Their heart rate went up. They got even more concerned. They re-examined the data, and their anxiety rose further.

"If we see data about ourselves that we can't properly interpret then, of course, we are going to want to know more," the psychologist says. "We check, we re-check - it becomes a vicious cycle."