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An atmosphere of feeling of anticipation. Visible is the chilled vapour exhaled by my rivals as they execute the "about to run" shuffle on the beginning point.

A quick movement of the hips.

I'm at my local Saturday morning race and I'm serious. Three, two, one...

Wait a second. I have to sort my watch. The same goes for the person next to me.

The person waiting sighs. I'm not moving until… there! Signal acquired, and I'm running.

During the scramble, it's hard to spot a person without a fitness tracker on it. And it's not just us runners who use them.

We're witnessing a thriving, massive market. Names like Garmin dominate, each with an broad array of diverse models to fit a spectrum of budgets. Based on how feature-packed the watch you go for, prices can vary between an affordable sum to a small fortune.

"I find it infuriating, I can't switch off."

"It provides solace… It feels like a friend supporting 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 question what they think of theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My current opinion on my own device? Currently, annoying. It's reporting I'm off pace, making me wonder whether the overhead branches along my route are blocking my satellite signal.

Countless individuals of us attach these compact monitors onto our wrists and wear them all day and night, seemingly unconcerned with the fact they're continuously tracking us.

Gone are the days when we used them solely to give us an idea of our pedometer reading. Today, they can track our sleep quality, heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), our VO2 max.

It's a challenge to find a physical metric they fail to monitor.

But are they able to do what they advertise? And are the numbers we analyse a true reflection of our actual health? Do they enhance our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the multitude of metrics and cheerleading alerts just contribute to our daily stresses?

A Complicated Bond

"I become a a little preoccupied with mine," a wearer reveals.

While she appreciates how her device records her runs, she finds some of its other capabilities "daunting" at times - a feeling that became apparent during a pregnancy.

Before she realised she could adjust the settings, her smartwatch constantly alerted her she was failing to be energetic enough. Later on, the watch frequently reports her she's had a bad night's sleep.

"I am caring for a six-month old, it's unnecessary for me to be informed I've not slept," she says. "I'm acutely aware only too well."

Why doesn't she just stop wearing it?

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

Inside the Device

Different brands of smartwatch has its own novel way of monitoring your bodily functions and analysing your data, but the majority use sensors on the back of the watch.

They usually project tiny, coloured LED lights onto your skin which can observe blood flow, detecting your heartbeat. Higher-end devices measure changes in the skin conductance that flows through the skin to get an idea of your recovery state.

Expert Perspectives

A professor says that overall for smartwatches, it's a "delicate equilibrium" - while the rapidly advancing tech could actually aid early diagnosis, "identifying issues before we feel unwell", it could also turn us watch wearers into the "anxious healthy".

He points out that the most advanced wearables can perform tests like electrocardiograms (ECGs), which continuously monitor how normal the heart is. They can notify if someone is experiencing an irregular rhythm, where there is erratic electrical activity in the heart causing an irregular heartbeat.

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

But how to interpret these figures is not straightforward. The expert worries that as more functions are added, people may find it hard to fully contextualise their data.

"I'm not entirely convinced that having the capacity to monitor so many things is such a positive development," he says.

A health researcher studying wearable tech agrees. Her work into the influence 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 "had a higher tendency to use doctor's time".

She identified a vicious circle with her patients - they saw a concerning reading on their watch. They felt anxious. Their heart rate rose. They got even more concerned. They checked again, and their heart rate went up again.

"When people are presented with numbers about ourselves that we don't really understand then, of course, we are going to seek clarification," the psychologist says. "We check, we check again - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."