🔗 Share this article

There's a feeling of anticipation. I can see the cold breath exhaled by my competitors as they do the "starting line" shuffle on the starting line.

A rapid movement of the hips.

I'm at my local 5km community parkrun and I'm focused. The countdown begins...

Hold on. I must sort my device. As does the runner next to me.

The person behind us sighs. I refuse to go until… done! Connection established, and I'm running.

Amidst the crowd, it's hard to see a arm without a smartwatch on it. And this isn't only us athletes who rely on them.

We're witnessing a booming, multi-billion dollar industry. Names like Apple Watch lead the market, each with an broad selection of various devices to fit a variety of needs. Depending on how advanced the watch you select, price tags can vary between an affordable sum to thousands of pounds.

"I find it infuriating, I can't switch off."

"It comforts me… It's like a companion encouraging me."

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

Just some of the responses people have shared from like-minded device users when I ask what they think of theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My thoughts on my own device? At this moment, irritating. It's indicating I'm not hitting my target, causing me to question whether the foliage I'm passing under are blocking my GPS connection.

Millions of us strap these little devices onto our wrists and use them 24/7, apparently at ease with the fact they're continuously monitoring us.

Long past are the days when we relied on them solely to give us an estimation of our step count. Now, they can measure our sleep patterns, stress levels, glucose levels, our body battery.

It's a challenge to find a health indicator they don't track.

But do they do what they say they do? And are the data points we analyse a faithful picture of reality? Do they enhance our daily wellness, or do the multitude of measurements and cheerleading alerts just increase our sense of overwhelm?

A Complicated Bond

"I do get a bit preoccupied with mine," one user 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 significant period.

Prior to discovering she could change its configuration, her smartwatch constantly alerted her she was not being energetic enough. In a new phase, the watch keeps telling her she's had a bad night's sleep.

"I am caring for a young baby, it's unnecessary for me to be told I'm tired," she says. "I'm acutely aware all too clearly."

Couldn't she just take it off?

"I could, perhaps, but I've got this love-hate relationship with it," she explains. "I appreciate it for its exercise data, I sometimes question whether the additional features it can now do is maybe too much for me."

Inside the Device

Every device of smartwatch has its own proprietary way of monitoring your vitals and interpreting your data, but the vast bulk use optical sensors on the back of the watch.

They usually project tiny, coloured LED lights onto your wrist which can detect blood flow, identifying your BPM. Higher-end devices measure changes in the electrical current that runs through the skin to gauge your nervous system activity.

The Professional Viewpoint

A professor says that in general for smartwatches, it's a "difficult line" - while the continuously improving tech could realistically prevent illness, "detecting disease before we notice anything", it could also turn us device users into the "concerned but fine".

He points out that some of the latest wearables can perform tests like electrocardiograms (ECGs), which continuously monitor how normal the heart is. They can alert if someone is experiencing atrial fibrillation (AF), where there is abnormal signals in the heart causing an arrhythmia.

This does not automatically signal someone is about to have a heart attack, but it can give an advance notice they might be more at risk of a heart problem in the future.

But how to make sense of these figures is complex. The expert fears that as additional features are incorporated, people may struggle to fully understand their data.

"I'm not entirely convinced that being able to monitor so many things is such a beneficial thing," he says.

A professor focusing on cardiology echoes this sentiment. A study into the effect of wearable tech on a specific group of individuals with health issues suggested a significant portion of those who were given devices to monitor their cardiac function experienced greater stress and were "more inclined to use doctor's time".

She identified a pattern with her patients - they saw a worrying figure on their watch. They grew concerned. Their BPM went up. They got increasingly anxious. They checked again, and their anxiety rose further.

"When people are presented with stats about ourselves that we can't properly interpret then, of course, we are going to seek clarification," the psychologist says. "We look, we re-check - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."