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A sense of nervous excitement. Visible is the cold breath coming from my rivals as they execute the "pre-race" wiggle on the start line.

A swift twitch of the hips.

I'm at my local Saturday morning race and I mean business. It's almost time...

Oh, hang on. I have to adjust my watch. The same goes for the runner alongside me.

The person in the line tuts. I'm not moving until… done! Connection established, I'm off.

Amidst the crowd, it's difficult to see a wrist without a smartwatch on it. And it's not just us runners who wear them.

It's a explosive, multi-billion dollar industry. Companies like Garmin dominate, featuring an wide range of different devices to suit a variety of needs. Depending on how advanced the model you select, prices can start from an affordable sum to a significant investment.

"It drives me insane, I'm unable to relax."

"It reassures me… It feels like a friend encouraging me."

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

A handful of the comments people have shared from fellow smartwatch wearers when I ask what they think of theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My current opinion on mine? Right now, frustrating. It's telling me I'm off pace, leading me to doubt whether the trees I'm running below are blocking my satellite signal.

A vast number of us attach these compact devices onto our arms and wear them 24/7, apparently unconcerned with the fact they're continuously recording us.

A distant memory are the days when we depended on them only to give us an estimation of our daily steps. Currently, they can track our sleep patterns, blood pressure, glucose levels, our body battery.

It's difficult to find a health indicator they aren't designed to measure.

But are they able to do what they say they do? And are the statistics we obsess over a true reflection of reality? Do they enhance our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the plethora of measurements and cheerleading alerts just contribute to our everyday anxiety?

A Complicated Bond

"I find myself getting a quite obsessed with mine," a wearer confesses.

While she values how her device tracks her runs, she finds some of its other features "daunting" at times - a feeling initially realised during a major life event.

Prior to discovering she could adjust the settings, her smartwatch constantly alerted her she was failing to be energetic enough. In a new phase, the watch keeps telling her she's had a bad night's sleep.

"I am caring for a infant, it's unnecessary for me to be told I'm tired," she says. "I know that only too well."

Why doesn't she just take it off?

"It's possible, theoretically, but I have this love-hate relationship with it," she continues. "I love it for its exercise data, but I'm unsure whether the additional features it can now do is perhaps excessive for me."

How Do They Work?

Different brands of smartwatch has its own proprietary way of measuring your vitals and interpreting your data, but the majority use optical sensors on the underside of the watch.

They commonly emit tiny, coloured LED lights onto your skin which can detect pulsation, recording your BPM. Higher-end devices measure changes in the bioimpedance that flows through the skin to get an idea of your stress levels.

Expert Perspectives

A professor says that in general for smartwatches, it's a "difficult line" - while the rapidly advancing tech could realistically save lives, "spotting abnormalities before we feel unwell", it could also turn us device users into the "concerned but fine".

He points out that newer wearables can conduct tests like electrocardiograms (ECGs), which constantly monitor how normal the heart is. They can notify if someone is experiencing atrial fibrillation (AF), where there is irregular electrical activity in the heart causing an arrhythmia.

This does not automatically signal someone is about to have a cardiac event, but it can give an early warning they might be more susceptible of a stroke in the long term.

But how to make sense of these numbers is complicated. The expert concerns that as additional features are added, people may struggle to fully comprehend their data.

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

A health researcher specialising in patient behaviour concurs. Her work into the effect of wearable tech on a specific group of individuals with health issues suggested a noticeable percentage of those who were given devices to monitor their condition experienced greater stress and were "far more likely to use healthcare resources".

She observed a vicious circle with her patients - they noticed a concerning reading on their watch. They felt anxious. Their heart rate went up. They got even more concerned. They looked a second time, and their anxiety went up again.

"When people are presented with stats about ourselves that we don't really understand then, understandably, we are going to want to know more," the psychologist says. "We monitor, we obsess - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."