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An atmosphere of building tension. Visible is the cold breath emanating from my rivals as they execute the "about to run" jiggle on the beginning point.

A swift flick of the hips.

I'm participating in my local weekly parkrun event and I'm serious. It's almost time...

Hold on. I must start my tracker. As does the person beside me.

The person waiting sighs. I won't start until… yes! Signal acquired, away I go.

During the scramble, it's challenging to see a wrist without a fitness tracker on it. And it's not just us participants who wear them.

It's a thriving, massive industry. Companies like Apple Watch lead the market, featuring an wide range of various versions to fit a range of needs. Depending on how high tech the model you select, costs can start from £100 to a significant investment.

"I find it infuriating, I'm unable to stop checking."

"It provides solace… It acts as a supporter supporting me."

"Please don't notify me about a restless night."

A handful of the comments I've had from fellow tracker enthusiasts when I ask what they feel about theirs.

The Monitoring Conundrum

My thoughts on my own device? Currently, frustrating. It's telling me I'm not hitting my target, making me wonder whether the overhead branches along my route are interfering with my satellite signal.

Countless individuals of us fasten these compact monitors onto our arms and use them all day and night, ostensibly comfortable with the fact they're constantly recording us.

Gone are the days when we relied on them only to give us an estimation of our daily steps. Currently, they can measure our sleep patterns, heart rate, glucose levels, our body battery.

It's tricky to find a physical metric they don't track.

But do they do what they claim to do? And are the statistics we analyse a true reflection of the truth? Do they improve our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the plethora of measurements and motivational messages just add to our sense of overwhelm?

A Love-Hate Relationship

"I do get a quite fixated with mine," one user admits.

While she loves how her device monitors her exercise, she finds some of its other features "excessive" at times - a feeling that became apparent during a significant period.

Before she realised she could change its configuration, her smartwatch repeatedly informed 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, I don't need to be informed my sleep was poor," she says. "I'm acutely aware only too well."

Is it not possible to just remove it?

"I could, theoretically, but I have this push-pull dynamic with it," she explains. "I love it for its fitness insights, I sometimes question whether all the other things it can now do is possibly excessive for me."

The Technology Behind the Tracking

Each model of smartwatch has its own unique way of tracking your vitals and interpreting your data, but the majority use optical sensors on the reverse of the watch.

They typically emit minute LED lights onto your wrist which can detect pulsation, recording your BPM. Higher-end devices measure changes in the electrical current that runs through the skin to get an idea of your recovery state.

The Professional Viewpoint

One expert says that in general for smartwatches, it's a "delicate equilibrium" - while the continuously improving tech could potentially aid early diagnosis, "spotting abnormalities before we feel unwell", it could also turn us the tracked into the "concerned but fine".

He points out that newer wearables can carry out tests like electrocardiograms (ECGs), which constantly monitor how healthy the heart is. They can alert if someone is experiencing an irregular rhythm, where there is abnormal impulses in the heart causing an arrhythmia.

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

But how to make sense of these readings is complex. The expert fears that as further capabilities are introduced, people may not be able to fully contextualise their data.

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

A health researcher specialising in cardiology echoes this sentiment. Her work into the effect of wearable tech on a set of individuals with health issues suggested a minority of those who were given devices to monitor their cardiac function experienced increased anxiety and were "far more likely to use healthcare resources".

She identified a cycle with her patients - they noticed a concerning reading on their watch. They became worried. Their pulse went up. They got even more concerned. They checked again, and their reading rose further.

"When people are presented with numbers about ourselves that we lack context for then, of course, we are going to want to know more," the psychologist says. "We check, we check again - it becomes a feedback loop."