🔗 Share this article

An atmosphere of feeling of anticipation. Apparent is the frosty air exhaled by my rivals as they do the "about to run" shuffle on the starting line.

A quick twitch of the hips.

I'm participating in my local weekly parkrun event and I mean business. The countdown begins...

Hold on. I must adjust my watch. As does the guy beside me.

The person in the line sighs. I won't start until… there! GPS ready, and I'm running.

In the mele, it's challenging to spot a arm without a wearable on it. And this extends beyond us runners who wear them.

We're witnessing a booming, multi-billion pound sector. Names like Garmin are prevalent, featuring an broad selection of diverse versions to cater to a variety of needs. According to how high tech the device you choose, prices can start from an affordable sum to a significant investment.

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

"It provides solace… It feels like a companion encouraging me."

"Please don't notify me about a restless night."

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

The Monitoring Conundrum

My current opinion on my own device? At this moment, annoying. It's telling me I'm off pace, making me wonder whether the overhead branches I'm running below are disrupting my location tracking.

Millions of us fasten these little gadgets onto our arms and keep them on 24/7, ostensibly unconcerned with the fact they're perpetually tracking us.

Long past are the days when we depended on them only to give us an estimation of our pedometer reading. Today, they can analyse our sleep quality, stress levels, heart rate variability (HRV), our recovery score.

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

But can they do what they advertise? And are the statistics we scrutinise a faithful picture of reality? Do they boost our daily wellness, or do the plethora of measurements and constant notifications just add to our daily stresses?

A Complicated Bond

"I do get a bit obsessed with mine," a wearer reveals.

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

Until she found out she could put it into a specific mode, her smartwatch constantly alerted her she was not being productive enough. Now, the watch insists her she's had a poor sleep score.

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

Why doesn't she just remove it?

"I could, perhaps, but I've got this push-pull dynamic with it," she continues. "I love it for its exercise data, I sometimes question whether all the other things it can now do is possibly too much for me."

How Do They Work?

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

They typically shine tiny, coloured LED lights onto your skin which can monitor blood flow, detecting your heartbeat. Sophisticated devices detect changes in the bioimpedance that passes over the skin to get an idea of your recovery state.

The Professional Viewpoint

A professor says that in general for smartwatches, it's a "fine balance" - while the rapidly advancing tech could potentially prevent illness, "spotting abnormalities before we notice anything", it could also turn us watch wearers into the "anxious healthy".

He points out that some of the latest wearables can conduct tests like heart rhythm analysis, which regularly monitor how healthy the heart is. They can alert if someone is experiencing atrial fibrillation (AF), where there is irregular electrical activity in the heart causing an arrhythmia.

This does not automatically signal someone is imminently going to suffer a heart attack, but it can give an preliminary indication they might be more susceptible of a stroke in the long term.

But how to make sense of these figures is complicated. The expert worries that as additional features are introduced, people may not be able to fully comprehend their data.

"I have some doubts that being able to monitor so many metrics is such a good idea," he says.

A clinical psychologist studying wearable tech concurs. Her work into the effect of wearable tech on a cohort of cardiovascular patients suggested a noticeable percentage of those who were given devices to monitor their condition experienced heightened worry and were "had a higher tendency to use doctor's time".

She observed a cycle with her patients - they saw a alarming metric on their watch. They felt anxious. Their heart rate went up. They got even more concerned. They looked a second time, and their anxiety went up again.

"If we see data about ourselves that we lack context for then, of course, we are going to seek clarification," the psychologist says. "We look, we obsess - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."