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An atmosphere of building tension. Visible is the frosty air coming from my rivals as they execute the "starting line" shuffle on the starting line.

A quick twitch of the hips.

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

Wait a second. I have to adjust my tracker. As does the guy next to me.

The person behind us sighs. I'm not moving until… done! Signal acquired, I'm off.

During the scramble, it's challenging to find a wrist without a smartwatch on it. And it's not just us participants who rely on them.

We're witnessing a booming, multi-billion pound market. Brands like Samsung Galaxy dominate, each with an extensive range of various models to fit a range of needs. Depending on how feature-packed the device you choose, costs can vary between a hundred pounds to thousands of pounds.

"I find it infuriating, it's impossible to stop checking."

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

"Stop telling me I've experienced a bad night's sleep."

Just some of the reactions people have shared from other device users when I inquire what they their opinion is on theirs.

The Monitoring Conundrum

My feelings on my own device? At this moment, irritating. It's indicating I'm off pace, making me wonder whether the overhead branches along my route are interfering with my satellite signal.

Countless individuals of us fasten these small devices onto our wrists and use them all day and night, seemingly comfortable with the fact they're perpetually tracking us.

A distant memory are the days when we relied on them solely to give us an rough count of our step count. Currently, they can measure our sleep quality, heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), our body battery.

It's difficult to find a health indicator they fail to monitor.

But are they able to do what they advertise? And are the numbers we obsess over a faithful picture of reality? Do they boost our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the avalanche of measurements and cheerleading alerts just increase our sense of overwhelm?

A Complicated Bond

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

While she loves how her device records her workouts, she finds some of its other functions "overwhelming" at times - a feeling that became apparent during a major life event.

Until she found out she could adjust the settings, her smartwatch repeatedly informed her she was not being active enough. Later on, the watch insists her she's had a bad night's sleep.

"I've got a young baby, there's no point to be notified I've not slept," she says. "I know that only too well."

Why doesn't she just remove it?

"It's possible, perhaps, but I've got this love-hate relationship with it," she explains. "I love it for its workout tracking, I sometimes question whether the myriad other functions it can now do is maybe excessive for me."

The Technology Behind the Tracking

Every device of smartwatch has its own unique way of tracking your bodily functions and processing your data, but the vast bulk use detectors on the reverse of the watch.

They commonly emit minute LED lights onto your arm which can detect blood flow, recording your pulse rate. Sophisticated devices measure changes in the electrical current that runs through the skin to gauge your recovery state.

The Professional Viewpoint

A data scientist says that overall for smartwatches, it's a "difficult line" - while the ever-evolving tech could potentially save lives, "identifying issues 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 perform tests like medical-grade monitoring, which constantly monitor how stable the heart is. They can notify if someone is experiencing a heart arrhythmia, where there is irregular signals in the heart causing an uneven pulse.

This does not necessarily indicate someone is imminently going to suffer a heart attack, but it can give an advance notice they might be more susceptible of a heart problem in the long term.

But how to understand these numbers is complex. The expert concerns that as additional features are introduced, people may struggle to fully understand their data.

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

A health researcher specialising in patient behaviour concurs. Her work into the impact of wearable tech on a cohort of individuals with health issues suggested a minority of those who were given devices to monitor their cardiac function experienced greater stress and were "far more likely to use doctor's time".

She observed a pattern with her patients - they noticed a alarming metric on their watch. They felt anxious. Their BPM went up. They got more worried. They checked again, and their reading increased again.

"Upon viewing stats about ourselves that we can't properly interpret then, naturally, we are going to want to know more," the psychologist says. "We check, we check again - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."