Is It Possible I'm Hooked on This Fitness Tracker?

An atmosphere of building tension. I can see the chilled vapour exhaled by my competitors as they execute the "about to run" wiggle on the starting line.

A quick movement of the hips.

I'm participating in my local Saturday morning race and I'm serious. The countdown begins...

Oh, hang on. I have to start my watch. So does the person beside me.

The person behind us expresses impatience. I refuse to go until… yes! GPS ready, and I'm running.

During the scramble, it's challenging to find a arm without a wearable on it. And it's not just us athletes who wear them.

We're witnessing a booming, multi-billion pound sector. Companies like Garmin are prevalent, all offering an broad array of diverse versions to cater to a range of lifestyles. Depending on how high tech the model you go for, costs can range from a hundred pounds to a small fortune.

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

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

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

A handful of the reactions I've received from fellow device users when I inquire what they their opinion is on theirs.

The Monitoring Conundrum

My current opinion on my own device? Currently, annoying. It's reporting I'm not hitting my target, causing me to question whether the overhead branches along my route are blocking my satellite signal.

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

A distant memory are the days when we used them solely to give us an idea of our pedometer reading. Currently, they can measure our nightly rest, blood pressure, glucose levels, our recovery score.

It's difficult to find a physical metric they aren't designed to measure.

But do they do what they claim to do? And are the numbers we analyse a accurate representation of the truth? Do they enhance our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the multitude of readings and motivational messages just contribute to our sense of overwhelm?

Addiction or Aid?

"I find myself getting a quite fixated with mine," one user confesses.

While she loves how her device tracks her exercise, she finds some of its other capabilities "daunting" at times - a feeling first discovered during a major life event.

Prior to discovering she could change its configuration, her smartwatch constantly alerted her she was not being productive enough. Later on, the watch keeps telling her she's had a restless night.

"I've got a infant, it's unnecessary for me to be notified my sleep was poor," she says. "That fact is only too well."

Couldn't she just take it off?

"I suppose I could, I suppose, but I've got this push-pull dynamic with it," she continues. "I appreciate it for its workout tracking, I just wonder whether all the other things it can now do is perhaps excessive for me."

The Technology Behind the Tracking

Different brands of smartwatch has its own novel way of tracking your bodily functions and processing your data, but the most use optical sensors on the back of the watch.

They typically project tiny, coloured LED lights onto your skin which can observe pulsation, recording your pulse rate. Sophisticated devices detect changes in the bioimpedance that passes over the skin to gauge your stress levels.

The Professional Viewpoint

One expert says that overall for smartwatches, it's a "fine balance" - while the rapidly advancing tech could realistically save lives, "identifying issues before we feel unwell", it could also turn us device users into the "worried well".

He points out that newer wearables can perform tests like electrocardiograms (ECGs), which continuously monitor how healthy the heart is. They can flag if someone is experiencing atrial fibrillation (AF), where there is abnormal impulses in the heart causing an uneven pulse.

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

But how to interpret these readings is not straightforward. The expert fears that as more functions are incorporated, people may struggle to fully contextualise their data.

"I remain sceptical that being able to monitor so many metrics is such a positive development," he says.

A health researcher focusing on cardiology agrees. Her work into the influence of wearable tech on a specific group of individuals with health issues suggested a noticeable percentage of those who were given devices to monitor their cardiac function experienced heightened worry and were "more inclined to use medical services".

She noted a cycle with her patients - they spotted a concerning reading on their watch. They became worried. Their BPM rose. They got more worried. They looked a second time, and their reading rose further.

"When people are presented with stats about ourselves that we lack context for then, naturally, we are going to want to know more," the psychologist says. "We look, we re-check - it becomes a feedback loop."