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A sense of nervous excitement. I can see the cold breath exhaled by my rivals as they execute the "about to run" jiggle on the start line.

A quick movement of the hips.

I'm participating in my local Saturday morning race and I'm serious. It's almost time...

Hold on. I need to sort my tracker. The same goes for the person beside me.

The person waiting tuts. I'm not moving until… yes! Signal acquired, I'm off.

During the scramble, it's hard to see a person without a fitness tracker on it. And this isn't only us participants who wear them.

This is a booming, massive industry. Brands like Garmin are prevalent, all offering an wide array of different devices to cater to a range of budgets. According to how high tech the watch you select, prices can vary between an affordable sum to a significant investment.

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

"It reassures me… It feels like a supporter guiding me."

"Please don't notify me I've had a bad night's sleep."

A small sample of the reactions I've received from fellow smartwatch wearers when I ask what they their opinion is on theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My thoughts on mine? At this moment, annoying. It's reporting my speed is wrong, causing me to question whether the trees along my route are interfering with my satellite signal.

Millions of us strap these small gadgets onto our wrists and keep them on constantly, seemingly unconcerned with the fact they're continuously recording us.

Gone are the days when we used them solely to give us an estimation of our pedometer reading. Today, they can measure our sleep quality, heart rate, glucose levels, our body battery.

It's a challenge to find a bodily function they aren't designed to measure.

But are they able to do what they advertise? And are the numbers we scrutinise a faithful picture of reality? Do they enhance our daily wellness, or do the plethora of measurements and constant notifications just add to our daily stresses?

Addiction or Aid?

"I become a bit preoccupied with mine," one user admits.

While she loves how her device monitors 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 repeatedly informed her she was not being energetic enough. Later on, the watch insists her she's had a bad night's sleep.

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

Why doesn't she just remove it?

"I could, I suppose, but I'm in this love-hate relationship with it," she continues. "I value it for its fitness insights, I sometimes question whether the additional features it can now do is perhaps too much for me."

How Do They Work?

Every device of smartwatch has its own unique way of tracking your vitals and analysing your data, but the vast bulk use sensors on the reverse of the watch.

They usually emit tiny, coloured LED lights onto your skin which can observe pulsation, identifying your pulse rate. Higher-end devices measure changes in the bioimpedance that passes over the skin to gauge your stress levels.

A Fine Balance

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

He points out that some of the latest wearables can carry out tests like medical-grade monitoring, which continuously monitor how normal the heart is. They can flag if someone is experiencing an irregular rhythm, where there is abnormal signals in the heart causing an irregular heartbeat.

This does not necessarily indicate someone is about to have a cardiac event, but it can give an preliminary indication they might be more vulnerable of a stroke in the years to come.

But how to understand these readings is not straightforward. The expert fears that as more functions are incorporated, people may struggle to fully contextualise their data.

"I have some doubts that being able to monitor so many metrics is such a positive development," he says.

A clinical psychologist specialising in patient behaviour echoes this sentiment. A study into the impact of wearable tech on a set of individuals with health issues suggested a significant portion of those who were given devices to monitor their heart health experienced heightened worry and were "more inclined to use doctor's time".

She identified a cycle with her patients - they saw a worrying figure on their watch. They felt anxious. Their pulse rose. They got more worried. They re-examined the data, and their heart rate went up again.

"Upon viewing data about ourselves that we can't properly interpret then, of course, we are going to become concerned," the psychologist says. "We look, we obsess - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."