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An atmosphere of building tension. Apparent is the frosty air coming from my fellow runners as they execute the "starting line" shuffle on the starting line.

A quick flick of the hips.

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

Wait a second. I have to sort my tracker. So does the runner next to me.

The person in the line sighs. I won't start until… there! Signal acquired, away I go.

In the mele, it's difficult to find a arm without a fitness tracker on it. And it's not just us participants who rely on them.

We're witnessing a explosive, multi-billion pound sector. Brands like Samsung Galaxy are prevalent, featuring an broad selection of various versions to fit a range of budgets. Based on how feature-packed the model you select, costs can range from £100 to thousands of pounds.

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

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

"Stop telling me about a restless night."

A handful of the comments I've received from like-minded tracker enthusiasts when I question what they think of theirs.

The Monitoring Conundrum

My thoughts on my own device? At this moment, annoying. It's telling me I'm not hitting my target, making me wonder whether the foliage I'm running below are interfering with my location tracking.

Countless individuals of us fasten these small gadgets onto our arms and use them constantly, apparently at ease with the fact they're perpetually recording us.

Gone are the days when we used them only to give us an idea of our step count. Currently, they can analyse our sleep patterns, heart rate, oxygen saturation, our VO2 max.

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

But do they do what they advertise? And are the numbers we analyse a faithful picture of our actual health? Do they enhance our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the avalanche of metrics and motivational messages just add to our daily stresses?

Addiction or Aid?

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

While she values how her device records her exercise, she finds some of its other functions "daunting" at times - a feeling initially realised during a pregnancy.

Prior to discovering she could adjust the settings, her smartwatch constantly alerted her she was not being energetic enough. Now, the watch frequently reports her she's had a bad night's sleep.

"I am caring for a infant, there's no point to be told my sleep was poor," she says. "That fact is perfectly well."

Is it not possible to just remove it?

"It's possible, theoretically, but I have this push-pull dynamic with it," she explains. "I love it for its fitness insights, I sometimes question whether the myriad other functions it can now do is possibly excessive for me."

The Technology Behind the Tracking

Each model of smartwatch has its own proprietary way of tracking your vitals and analysing your data, but the most use sensors on the reverse of the watch.

They usually project small, green LED lights onto your wrist which can monitor blood flow, recording your BPM. More advanced devices analyse changes in the skin conductance that passes over the skin to assess your recovery state.

The Professional Viewpoint

One expert says that overall for smartwatches, it's a "delicate equilibrium" - while the continuously improving tech could realistically aid early diagnosis, "identifying issues before we show symptoms", it could also turn us the tracked into the "worried well".

He points out that some of the latest wearables can perform tests like medical-grade monitoring, which continuously monitor how stable the heart is. They can alert if someone is experiencing atrial fibrillation (AF), where there is erratic electrical activity in the heart causing an arrhythmia.

This does not necessarily indicate someone is imminently going to suffer a cardiac event, but it can give an preliminary indication they might be more susceptible of a stroke in the years to come.

But how to understand these figures is complex. The expert worries that as more functions are incorporated, people may not be able to fully understand their data.

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

A health researcher specialising in wearable tech concurs. A study into the influence of wearable tech on a set of heart condition patients suggested a minority of those who were given devices to monitor their heart health experienced heightened worry and were "more inclined to use healthcare resources".

She identified a pattern with her patients - they noticed a concerning reading on their watch. They felt anxious. Their heart rate increased. They got even more concerned. They looked a second time, and their reading increased again.

"Upon viewing data about ourselves that we lack context for then, understandably, we are going to become concerned," the psychologist says. "We check, we re-check - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."