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There's a building tension. Visible is the frosty air exhaled by my rivals as they execute the "pre-race" wiggle on the starting line.

A swift movement of the hips.

I'm lined up for my local Saturday morning race and I'm focused. It's almost time...

Hold on. I need to start my device. So does the guy next to me.

The person waiting sighs. I won't start until… yes! Connection established, I'm off.

In the mele, it's difficult to see a wrist without a wearable on it. And this extends beyond us participants who wear them.

This is a thriving, multi-billion dollar industry. Companies like Apple Watch lead the market, all offering an extensive range of various versions to suit a range of lifestyles. Depending on how advanced the model you choose, costs can start from a hundred pounds to thousands of pounds.

"I find it infuriating, it's impossible to stop checking."

"It reassures me… It acts as a friend encouraging me."

"Stop telling me I've experienced a poor sleep."

Just some of the reactions I've received from other device users when I question what they think of theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My thoughts on mine? At this moment, annoying. It's telling me my speed is wrong, leading me to doubt whether the overhead branches I'm running below are blocking my satellite signal.

Millions of us fasten these little monitors onto our wrists and keep them on 24/7, apparently comfortable with the fact they're perpetually recording us.

Long past are the days when we depended on them solely to give us an idea of our step count. Now, they can track our sleep quality, heart rate, oxygen saturation, our recovery score.

It's difficult to find a bodily function they fail to monitor.

But are they able to do what they claim to do? And are the numbers we obsess over a true reflection of reality? Do they improve our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the plethora of readings and motivational messages just contribute to our daily stresses?

A Love-Hate Relationship

"I become a bit fixated with mine," an individual reveals.

While she appreciates how her device monitors her runs, she finds some of its other capabilities "excessive" at times - a feeling initially realised during a major life event.

Until she found out she could change its configuration, her smartwatch kept telling her she was failing to be energetic enough. Later on, the watch frequently reports her she's had a restless night.

"I have a six-month old, I don't need to be notified I'm tired," she says. "That fact is all too clearly."

Why doesn't she just remove it?

"I could, I suppose, but I've got this complicated dynamic with it," she continues. "I love it for its exercise data, I just wonder whether the additional features it can now do is perhaps too much for me."

The Technology Behind the Tracking

Each model of smartwatch has its own novel way of tracking your vitals and processing your data, but the vast bulk use optical sensors on the reverse of the watch.

They typically emit small, green LED lights onto your arm which can detect blood flow, identifying your heartbeat. Sophisticated devices detect changes in the electrical current that passes over the skin to assess your stress levels.

Expert Perspectives

A professor says that for most people for smartwatches, it's a "delicate equilibrium" - while the rapidly advancing tech could realistically save lives, "detecting disease before we feel unwell", it could also turn us device users into the "worried well".

He points out that newer wearables can carry out tests like medical-grade monitoring, which regularly monitor how healthy the heart is. They can alert if someone is experiencing an irregular rhythm, where there is erratic impulses in the heart causing an irregular heartbeat.

This does not necessarily indicate someone is on the verge of a heart attack, but it can give an early warning they might be more at risk of a blood clot in the long term.

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

"I have some doubts that the ability to monitor so much data is such a beneficial thing," he says.

A health researcher specialising in wearable tech concurs. Her work into the influence of wearable tech on a specific group of individuals with health issues suggested a minority of those who were given devices to monitor their heart health experienced increased anxiety and were "more inclined to use healthcare resources".

She noted a cycle with her patients - they spotted a worrying figure on their watch. They grew concerned. Their heart rate increased. They got even more concerned. They re-examined the data, and their anxiety rose further.

"Upon viewing data about ourselves that we can't properly interpret then, naturally, we are going to want to know more," the psychologist says. "We look, we obsess - it becomes a vicious cycle."