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A sense of nervous excitement. I can see the cold breath emanating from my competitors as they execute the "starting line" jiggle on the beginning point.

A swift twitch of the hips.

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

Wait a second. I have to start my watch. As does the person beside me.

The person waiting sighs. I refuse to go until… there! Signal acquired, and I'm running.

In the mele, it's difficult to find a wrist without a smartwatch on it. And it's not just us athletes who use them.

This is a explosive, multi-billion pound sector. Companies like Apple Watch lead the market, all offering an extensive array of diverse models to suit a range of lifestyles. Based on how advanced the device you select, prices can start from an affordable sum to a significant investment.

"It drives me insane, I'm unable to relax."

"It comforts me… It acts as a supporter supporting me."

"I wish it wouldn't say about a bad night's sleep."

A small sample of the responses I've received from fellow tracker enthusiasts when I question what they feel about theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My thoughts on my own device? Right now, annoying. It's telling me I'm not hitting my target, causing me to question whether the overhead branches along my route are disrupting my location tracking.

Millions of us strap these little devices onto our arms and use them 24/7, ostensibly comfortable with the fact they're constantly tracking us.

Gone are the days when we used them only to give us an estimation of our pedometer reading. Now, they can track our nightly rest, stress levels, oxygen saturation, our recovery score.

It's tricky to find a health indicator they fail to monitor.

But are they able to do what they advertise? And are the data points we analyse a accurate representation of reality? Do they enhance our daily wellness, or do the multitude of measurements and motivational messages just add to our everyday anxiety?

Addiction or Aid?

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

While she appreciates how her device monitors her workouts, she finds some of its other capabilities "excessive" at times - a feeling first discovered during a pregnancy.

Before she realised she could adjust the settings, her smartwatch repeatedly informed her she was failing to be active enough. Later on, the watch insists her she's had a restless night.

"I've got a young baby, there's no point to be told I've not slept," she says. "I know that perfectly well."

Why doesn't she just take it off?

"I suppose I could, I suppose, but I have this complicated 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 too much for me."

Inside the Device

Each model of smartwatch has its own proprietary way of monitoring your vitals and interpreting your data, but the vast bulk use detectors on the reverse of the watch.

They commonly shine minute LED lights onto your skin which can monitor pulsation, identifying your BPM. Sophisticated devices measure changes in the skin conductance that flows through the skin to get an idea of your stress levels.

The Professional Viewpoint

A data scientist says that overall for smartwatches, it's a "fine balance" - while the continuously improving tech could potentially save lives, "identifying issues before we show symptoms", it could also turn us the tracked into the "concerned but fine".

He points out that newer wearables can perform tests like heart rhythm analysis, which continuously monitor how healthy the heart is. They can notify if someone is experiencing a heart arrhythmia, where there is erratic impulses in the heart causing an arrhythmia.

This does not mean someone is imminently going to suffer a heart attack, but it can give an preliminary indication they might be more vulnerable of a blood clot in the long term.

But how to interpret these numbers is not straightforward. The expert worries that as further capabilities are incorporated, people may not be able to fully comprehend their data.

"I remain sceptical that the ability to monitor so much data is such a positive development," he says.

A clinical psychologist specialising in cardiology agrees. A study into the effect of wearable tech on a cohort of individuals with health issues suggested a minority of those who were given devices to monitor their cardiac function experienced greater stress and were "had a higher tendency to use medical services".

She observed a vicious circle with her patients - they spotted a worrying figure on their watch. They grew concerned. Their pulse went up. They got more worried. They re-examined the data, and their reading increased again.

"If we see numbers about ourselves that we lack context for then, of course, we are going to become concerned," the psychologist says. "We monitor, we obsess - it becomes a vicious cycle."