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An atmosphere of building tension. Visible is the chilled vapour coming from my fellow runners as they perform the "about to run" shuffle on the start line.

A quick movement of the hips.

I'm at my local 5km community parkrun and I'm serious. Three, two, one...

Wait a second. I must sort my watch. The same goes for the person alongside me.

The person waiting tuts. I won't start until… there! Signal acquired, and I'm running.

In the mele, it's hard to find a arm without a fitness tracker on it. And this extends beyond us runners who use them.

This is a booming, multi-billion dollar industry. Brands like Apple Watch dominate, each with an broad range of different versions to suit a variety of lifestyles. Depending on how advanced the model you choose, prices can range from an affordable sum to a small fortune.

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

"It provides solace… It acts as a companion guiding me."

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

A small sample of the comments I've had from other tracker enthusiasts when I question what they their opinion is on theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My current opinion on mine? At this moment, annoying. It's reporting I'm not hitting my target, leading me to doubt whether the overhead branches I'm passing under are disrupting my GPS connection.

Countless individuals of us strap these small monitors onto our arms and wear them 24/7, seemingly unconcerned with the fact they're continuously monitoring us.

Gone are the days when we relied on them solely to give us an rough count of our step count. Now, they can analyse our sleep patterns, stress levels, heart rate variability (HRV), our body battery.

It's difficult to find a bodily function they don't track.

But are they able to do what they advertise? And are the data points we scrutinise a faithful picture of our actual health? Do they boost our daily wellness, or do the avalanche of measurements and constant notifications just contribute to our sense of overwhelm?

A Love-Hate Relationship

"I do get a a little fixated with mine," an individual admits.

While she appreciates how her device monitors her runs, she finds some of its other capabilities "daunting" 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. In a new phase, the watch keeps telling her she's had a restless night.

"I have a infant, it's unnecessary for me to be told I'm tired," she says. "I know that perfectly well."

Couldn't she just remove it?

"I could, theoretically, but I'm in this push-pull dynamic with it," she continues. "I appreciate it for its workout tracking, I sometimes question 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 monitoring your health metrics and processing your data, but the vast bulk use detectors on the back of the watch.

They usually project small, green LED lights onto your skin which can observe pulsation, recording your pulse rate. Higher-end devices detect changes in the bioimpedance that runs through the skin to gauge your stress levels.

The Professional Viewpoint

One expert says that for most people for smartwatches, it's a "delicate equilibrium" - while the ever-evolving tech could potentially save lives, "identifying issues before we show symptoms", 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 constantly monitor how normal the heart is. They can alert if someone is experiencing atrial fibrillation (AF), where there is irregular impulses in the heart causing an irregular heartbeat.

This does not automatically signal someone is imminently going to suffer a cardiac event, but it can give an early warning they might be more at risk of a blood clot in the future.

But how to interpret these readings is complex. The expert concerns that as additional features are incorporated, people may find it hard to fully contextualise their data.

"I remain sceptical that the ability to monitor so many metrics is such a beneficial thing," he says.

A professor studying patient behaviour concurs. A study 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 greater stress and were "far more likely to use medical services".

She noted a cycle with her patients - they saw a alarming metric on their watch. They felt anxious. Their pulse went up. They got even more concerned. They looked a second time, and their anxiety rose further.

"Upon viewing data about ourselves that we can't properly interpret then, of course, we are going to become concerned," the psychologist says. "We check, we check again - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."