🔗 Share this article

An atmosphere of nervous excitement. Visible is the cold breath coming from my rivals as they perform the "starting line" wiggle on the beginning point.

A swift flick of the hips.

I'm participating in my local 5km community parkrun and I mean business. It's almost time...

Oh, hang on. I need to adjust my device. So does the runner alongside me.

The person in the line expresses impatience. I'm not moving until… done! Connection established, and I'm running.

During the scramble, it's challenging to spot a person without a smartwatch on it. And this isn't only us athletes who rely on them.

We're witnessing a thriving, massive industry. Companies like Apple Watch lead the market, each with an wide array of different versions to suit a variety of budgets. According to how advanced the device you go for, price tags can start from an affordable sum to a small fortune.

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

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

"I wish it wouldn't say I've had a restless night."

A handful of the comments I've had from fellow tracker enthusiasts when I ask what they think of theirs.

A Sea of Statistics

My feelings on mine? Currently, frustrating. It's indicating I'm off pace, causing me to question whether the foliage I'm running below are blocking my satellite signal.

A vast number of us strap these little devices onto our arms and wear them all day and night, apparently comfortable with the fact they're constantly recording us.

Gone are the days when we depended on them exclusively to give us an idea of our pedometer reading. Today, they can measure our sleep quality, heart rate, oxygen saturation, our body battery.

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 numbers we obsess over a true reflection of reality? Do they boost our overall health, or do the multitude of measurements and motivational messages just add to our daily stresses?

Addiction or Aid?

"I become a bit obsessed with mine," one user admits.

While she loves how her device monitors her exercise, she finds some of its other capabilities "excessive" at times - a feeling that became apparent during a significant period.

Until she found out she could adjust the settings, her smartwatch repeatedly informed her she was not being active enough. Later on, the watch keeps telling her she's had a poor sleep score.

"I am caring for a young baby, it's unnecessary for me to be notified I'm tired," she says. "I know that perfectly well."

Couldn't she just take it off?

"It's possible, perhaps, but I've got this love-hate relationship with it," she says. "I value it for its workout tracking, but I'm unsure whether the additional features it can now do is maybe too much for me."

The Technology Behind the Tracking

Different brands of smartwatch has its own unique way of measuring your health metrics and interpreting your data, but the most use sensors on the reverse of the watch.

They usually emit tiny, coloured LED lights onto your arm which can observe capillary action, identifying your pulse rate. Sophisticated devices measure changes in the bioimpedance that runs through the skin to get an idea of your recovery state.

The Professional Viewpoint

A professor says that for most people for smartwatches, it's a "difficult line" - while the ever-evolving tech could realistically prevent illness, "spotting abnormalities before we notice anything", it could also turn us device users into the "anxious healthy".

He points out that the most advanced wearables can conduct tests like electrocardiograms (ECGs), which regularly monitor how normal the heart is. They can flag if someone is experiencing an irregular rhythm, where there is abnormal electrical activity in the heart causing an arrhythmia.

This does not necessarily indicate someone is about to have a cardiac event, but it can give an preliminary indication they might be more at risk of a stroke in the future.

But how to make sense of these numbers is complex. The expert fears that as additional features are incorporated, people may not be able to fully understand their data.

"I have some doubts that the ability to monitor so many things is such a positive development," he says.

A health researcher focusing on wearable tech echoes this sentiment. A study into the influence of wearable tech on a specific group of cardiovascular patients suggested a minority of those who were given devices to monitor their heart health experienced greater stress and were "had a higher tendency to use healthcare resources".

She noted a vicious circle with her patients - they spotted a worrying figure on their watch. They grew concerned. Their heart rate increased. They got even more concerned. They looked a second time, and their heart rate went up again.

"When people are presented with stats about ourselves that we don't really understand then, of course, we are going to want to know more," the psychologist says. "We check, we obsess - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."