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There's a feeling of anticipation. Apparent is the frosty air emanating from my rivals as they do the "starting line" jiggle on the start line.

A rapid twitch of the hips.

I'm participating in my local Saturday morning race and I'm focused. It's almost time...

Hold on. I need to start my tracker. So does the person next to me.

The person waiting tuts. I won't start until… done! Signal acquired, I'm off.

During the scramble, it's challenging to find a person without a fitness tracker on it. And this extends beyond us participants who rely on them.

We're witnessing a booming, multi-billion dollar sector. Companies like Garmin lead the market, each with an wide range of various models to suit a range of budgets. According to how feature-packed the model you go for, prices can range from an affordable sum to a small fortune.

"It makes me crazy, I can't stop checking."

"It comforts me… It feels like a companion supporting me."

"Please don't notify me I've experienced a poor sleep."

Just some of the comments people have shared from like-minded smartwatch wearers when I question what they think of theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My feelings on mine? Currently, annoying. It's reporting I'm off pace, making me wonder whether the trees along my route are interfering with my GPS connection.

A vast number of us strap these small gadgets onto our wrists and wear them 24/7, ostensibly at ease with the fact they're continuously monitoring us.

A distant memory are the days when we used them only to give us an rough count of our step count. Today, they can analyse our sleep patterns, stress levels, heart rate variability (HRV), our recovery score.

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

But are they able to do what they say they do? And are the data points we scrutinise a accurate representation of the truth? Do they improve our overall health, or do the plethora of measurements and motivational messages just add to our daily stresses?

A Complicated Bond

"I become a quite preoccupied with mine," one user reveals.

While she loves how her device records her workouts, she finds some of its other functions "overwhelming" at times - a feeling first discovered during a pregnancy.

Until she found out she could adjust the settings, her smartwatch constantly alerted her she was being insufficiently active enough. Later on, the watch frequently reports her she's had a bad night's sleep.

"I have a six-month old, it's unnecessary for me to be informed I'm tired," she says. "That fact is all too clearly."

Is it not possible to just stop wearing it?

"It's possible, perhaps, but I've got this push-pull dynamic with it," she continues. "I value it for its fitness insights, but I'm unsure whether the myriad other functions it can now do is perhaps excessive for me."

The Technology Behind the Tracking

Every device of smartwatch has its own proprietary way of monitoring your vitals and processing your data, but the majority use detectors on the reverse of the watch.

They commonly emit tiny, coloured LED lights onto your arm which can observe pulsation, identifying your heartbeat. Sophisticated devices analyse changes in the bioimpedance that passes over the skin to get an idea of your nervous system activity.

A Fine Balance

A professor says that in general for smartwatches, it's a "delicate equilibrium" - while the rapidly advancing tech could realistically prevent illness, "identifying issues before we show symptoms", it could also turn us the tracked into the "anxious healthy".

He points out that newer wearables can perform 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 abnormal signals in the heart causing an uneven pulse.

This does not necessarily indicate someone is about to have a heart attack, but it can give an advance notice they might be more at risk of a blood clot in the years to come.

But how to understand these numbers is complicated. The expert fears that as more functions are added, people may find it hard to fully understand their data.

"I'm not entirely convinced that the ability to monitor so much data is such a good idea," he says.

A professor studying cardiology concurs. Research into the effect of wearable tech on a set of cardiovascular patients suggested a noticeable percentage of those who were given devices to monitor their condition experienced increased anxiety and were "far more likely to use healthcare resources".

She observed a vicious circle with her patients - they noticed a worrying figure on their watch. They grew concerned. Their pulse increased. They got even more concerned. They checked again, and their anxiety increased again.

"When people are presented with data about ourselves that we lack context for then, naturally, we are going to seek clarification," the psychologist says. "We look, we check again - it becomes a vicious cycle."