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There's a nervous excitement. Visible is the cold breath exhaled by my competitors as they do the "about to run" wiggle on the start line.

A rapid movement of the hips.

I'm lined up for my local Saturday morning race and I'm serious. Three, two, one...

Oh, hang on. I have to sort my watch. The same goes for the person beside me.

The person behind us expresses impatience. I won't start until… yes! Signal acquired, and I'm running.

Amidst the crowd, it's difficult to see a person without a wearable on it. And this isn't only us participants who use them.

It's a booming, multi-billion dollar industry. Brands like Samsung Galaxy dominate, featuring an broad array of different versions to suit a spectrum of lifestyles. Based on how feature-packed the watch you go for, price tags can range from a hundred pounds to thousands of pounds.

"I find it infuriating, I'm unable to relax."

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

"I wish it wouldn't say I've experienced a poor sleep."

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

A Sea of Statistics

My thoughts on my own device? At this moment, annoying. It's indicating I'm off pace, leading me to doubt whether the overhead branches I'm running below are interfering with my GPS connection.

Millions of us fasten these small devices onto our arms and keep them on all day and night, ostensibly comfortable with the fact they're perpetually tracking us.

A distant memory are the days when we relied on them only to give us an rough count of our step count. Now, they can analyse our sleep quality, stress levels, glucose levels, our body battery.

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

But do they do what they claim to do? And are the data points we obsess over a accurate representation of the truth? Do they boost our daily wellness, or do the multitude of readings and constant notifications just increase our daily stresses?

Addiction or Aid?

"I do get a a little preoccupied with mine," one user confesses.

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

Before she realised she could change its configuration, her smartwatch kept telling her she was failing to be active enough. Later on, the watch insists her she's had a poor sleep score.

"I am caring for a six-month old, it's unnecessary for me to be told I've not slept," she says. "That fact is all too clearly."

Is it not possible to just stop wearing it?

"I suppose I could, theoretically, but I'm in this complicated dynamic with it," she explains. "I value 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 novel way of monitoring your bodily functions and processing your data, but the most use detectors on the reverse of the watch.

They usually shine small, green LED lights onto your skin which can monitor pulsation, identifying your heartbeat. Higher-end devices measure changes in the electrical current that runs through the skin to get an idea of your stress levels.

The Professional Viewpoint

A data scientist says that in general for smartwatches, it's a "fine balance" - while the rapidly advancing tech could potentially aid early diagnosis, "spotting abnormalities before we feel unwell", it could also turn us the tracked into the "anxious healthy".

He points out that the most advanced wearables can conduct tests like heart rhythm analysis, which regularly monitor how healthy the heart is. They can flag if someone is experiencing an irregular rhythm, where there is erratic signals in the heart causing an uneven pulse.

This does not automatically signal someone is on the verge of a cardiac event, but it can give an preliminary indication they might be more susceptible of a stroke in the long term.

But how to understand these readings is not straightforward. The expert worries that as additional features are added, people may struggle to fully contextualise their data.

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

A clinical psychologist studying patient behaviour echoes this sentiment. Her work into the effect of wearable tech on a specific group of heart condition patients suggested a minority of those who were given devices to monitor their cardiac function experienced heightened worry and were "more inclined to use doctor's time".

She observed a pattern with her patients - they spotted a worrying figure on their watch. They felt anxious. Their pulse rose. They got increasingly anxious. They checked again, and their heart rate went up again.

"Upon viewing stats about ourselves that we don't really understand then, understandably, we are going to want to know more," the psychologist says. "We look, we check again - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."