Is It Possible I'm Dependent on My Smartwatch?

There's a building tension. Visible is the frosty air emanating from my fellow runners as they do the "pre-race" wiggle on the start line.

A swift flick of the hips.

I'm lined up for my local 5km community parkrun and I'm focused. The countdown begins...

Oh, hang on. I have to adjust my watch. As does the person beside me.

The person in the line expresses impatience. I'm not moving until… done! GPS ready, I'm off.

During the scramble, it's challenging to find a arm without a wearable on it. And this isn't only us runners who rely on them.

This is a explosive, massive market. Companies like Samsung Galaxy lead the market, featuring an wide range of diverse models to suit a spectrum of lifestyles. According to how advanced the watch you choose, price tags can start from an affordable sum to a small fortune.

"I find it infuriating, I can't stop checking."

"It comforts me… It's like a friend supporting me."

"I wish it wouldn't say I've had a poor sleep."

A handful of the comments I've had from other tracker enthusiasts when I inquire what they feel about theirs.

The Monitoring Conundrum

My current opinion on my own device? Currently, annoying. It's telling me I'm off pace, making me wonder whether the foliage I'm passing under are interfering with my GPS connection.

Countless individuals of us strap these compact devices onto our arms and keep them on 24/7, ostensibly comfortable with the fact they're constantly monitoring us.

Gone are the days when we used them only to give us an estimation of our pedometer reading. Today, they can track our nightly rest, blood pressure, glucose levels, our recovery score.

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

But can they do what they advertise? And are the statistics we obsess over a accurate representation of the truth? Do they enhance our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the avalanche of metrics and cheerleading alerts just contribute to our sense of overwhelm?

A Complicated Bond

"I become a bit fixated with mine," one user confesses.

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

Prior to discovering she could change its configuration, her smartwatch kept telling her she was not being productive enough. Later on, the watch frequently reports her she's had a bad night's sleep.

"I have a infant, I don't need to be told I'm tired," she says. "I know that perfectly well."

Why doesn't she just remove it?

"I could, perhaps, but I'm in this love-hate relationship with it," she says. "I appreciate it for its exercise data, I just wonder whether the myriad other functions it can now do is perhaps too much for me."

How Do They Work?

Different brands of smartwatch has its own novel way of tracking your bodily functions and interpreting your data, but the most use detectors on the underside of the watch.

They commonly project tiny, coloured LED lights onto your arm which can monitor pulsation, recording your BPM. Sophisticated devices analyse changes in the bioimpedance that flows through 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 realistically prevent illness, "spotting abnormalities before we feel unwell", it could also turn us the tracked into the "anxious healthy".

He points out that newer wearables can carry out tests like electrocardiograms (ECGs), which continuously monitor how stable the heart is. They can notify if someone is experiencing an irregular rhythm, where there is irregular impulses in the heart causing an uneven pulse.

This does not mean someone is about to have a heart attack, but it can give an preliminary indication they might be more at risk of a blood clot in the years to come.

But how to understand these numbers is complex. The expert worries that as more functions are introduced, people may find it hard to fully comprehend their data.

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

A health researcher focusing on cardiology agrees. A study into the impact of wearable tech on a specific group of heart condition 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 medical services".

She identified a pattern with her patients - they saw a concerning reading on their watch. They grew concerned. Their BPM rose. They got increasingly anxious. They re-examined the data, and their anxiety rose further.

"When people are presented with data about ourselves that we lack context for then, naturally, we are going to seek clarification," the psychologist says. "We check, we obsess - it becomes a feedback loop."