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A sense of nervous excitement. Apparent is the cold breath exhaled by my competitors as they execute the "starting line" wiggle on the starting line.

A swift twitch of the hips.

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

Oh, hang on. I need to sort my device. The same goes for the runner next to me.

The person behind us tuts. I refuse to go until… done! GPS ready, I'm off.

During the scramble, it's difficult to see a wrist without a wearable on it. And this extends beyond us runners who use them.

We're witnessing a explosive, multi-billion pound sector. Brands like Garmin dominate, featuring an extensive array of different models to cater to a range of lifestyles. According to how advanced the model you choose, costs can start from £100 to a significant investment.

"It drives me insane, it's impossible to switch off."

"It reassures me… It's like a supporter guiding me."

"Stop telling me about a poor sleep."

A handful of the comments I've received from like-minded device users when I question what they their opinion is on theirs.

A Sea of Statistics

My feelings on my own device? Right now, irritating. It's indicating I'm not hitting my target, causing me to question whether the overhead branches I'm passing under are disrupting my satellite signal.

Millions of us attach these compact monitors onto our wrists and wear them constantly, seemingly at ease with the fact they're perpetually tracking us.

Gone are the days when we depended on them solely to give us an idea of our daily steps. Today, they can analyse our sleep quality, stress levels, heart rate variability (HRV), our VO2 max.

It's a challenge to find a health indicator they don't track.

But do they do what they advertise? And are the statistics we analyse a faithful picture of the truth? Do they boost our daily wellness, or do the multitude of measurements and constant notifications just contribute to our sense of overwhelm?

Addiction or Aid?

"I do get a quite preoccupied with mine," a wearer admits.

While she values how her device tracks her workouts, she finds some of its other functions "excessive" at times - a feeling that became apparent during a significant period.

Prior to discovering she could change its configuration, her smartwatch repeatedly informed her she was not being active enough. Later on, the watch frequently reports her she's had a restless night.

"I've got a infant, it's unnecessary for me to be notified I've not slept," she says. "That fact is all too clearly."

Is it not possible to just take it off?

"I suppose I could, I suppose, but I've got this push-pull dynamic with it," she continues. "I value it for its fitness insights, but I'm unsure whether all the other things it can now do is perhaps too much for me."

How Do They Work?

Different brands of smartwatch has its own proprietary way of monitoring your bodily functions and processing your data, but the vast bulk use optical sensors on the back of the watch.

They usually shine small, green LED lights onto your arm which can monitor blood flow, identifying your pulse rate. More advanced devices detect changes in the skin conductance that flows through the skin to get an idea of your stress levels.

The Professional Viewpoint

A professor says that for most people for smartwatches, it's a "fine balance" - while the continuously improving tech could potentially save lives, "identifying issues before we feel unwell", it could also turn us watch wearers into the "anxious healthy".

He points out that newer wearables can perform tests like heart rhythm analysis, which regularly monitor how normal the heart is. They can alert if someone is experiencing a heart arrhythmia, where there is abnormal signals in the heart causing an uneven pulse.

This does not mean someone is about to have a cardiac event, but it can give an preliminary indication they might be more at risk of a heart problem in the future.

But how to understand these readings is complicated. The expert fears that as additional features are introduced, people may not be able to fully contextualise their data.

"I have some doubts that being able to monitor so many things is such a good idea," he says.

A health researcher focusing on patient behaviour agrees. Her work into the effect of wearable tech on a specific group of cardiovascular patients suggested a minority of those who were given devices to monitor their heart health experienced increased anxiety and were "more inclined to use doctor's time".

She noted a cycle with her patients - they noticed a worrying figure on their watch. They grew concerned. Their heart rate increased. They got increasingly anxious. They checked again, and their reading increased again.

"Upon viewing stats about ourselves that we can't properly interpret then, naturally, we are going to seek clarification," the psychologist says. "We check, we re-check - it becomes a feedback loop."