Is It Possible I'm Addicted to My Fitness Tracker?

An atmosphere of building tension. Visible is the chilled vapour coming from my fellow runners as they do the "starting line" shuffle on the start line.

A rapid twitch of the hips.

I'm at my local weekly parkrun event and I'm serious. The countdown begins...

Wait a second. I must adjust my tracker. The same goes for the guy beside me.

The person waiting expresses impatience. I refuse to go until… done! Signal acquired, I'm off.

During the scramble, it's hard to find a arm without a smartwatch on it. And this isn't only us athletes who rely on them.

We're witnessing a thriving, massive sector. Brands like Apple Watch are prevalent, each with an broad array of diverse models to cater to a spectrum of needs. According to how feature-packed the device you go for, prices can start from a hundred pounds to a significant investment.

"It makes me crazy, it's impossible to relax."

"It provides solace… It acts as a companion supporting me."

"Please don't notify me I've experienced a poor sleep."

A small sample of the reactions I've received from other tracker enthusiasts when I inquire what they feel about theirs.

A Sea of Statistics

My feelings on my own device? Currently, irritating. It's telling me I'm not hitting my target, leading me to doubt whether the foliage I'm passing under are blocking my GPS connection.

Millions of us attach these little gadgets onto our wrists and wear them all day and night, ostensibly comfortable with the fact they're perpetually recording us.

A distant memory are the days when we depended on them exclusively to give us an estimation of our pedometer reading. Now, they can analyse our sleep patterns, stress levels, heart rate variability (HRV), our recovery score.

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

But do they do what they say they do? And are the numbers we obsess over a true reflection of the truth? Do they improve our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the plethora of measurements and motivational messages just contribute to our everyday anxiety?

Addiction or Aid?

"I become a a little preoccupied with mine," an individual admits.

While she loves how her device records her runs, she finds some of its other capabilities "daunting" at times - a feeling first discovered during a pregnancy.

Until she found out she could change its configuration, her smartwatch kept telling her she was being insufficiently productive enough. In a new phase, the watch keeps telling her she's had a restless night.

"I have a infant, I don't need to be told my sleep was poor," she says. "I'm acutely aware all too clearly."

Why doesn't she just take it off?

"I could, perhaps, but I've got this push-pull dynamic with it," she says. "I love it for its exercise data, but I'm unsure whether the myriad other functions it can now do is possibly excessive for me."

Inside the Device

Every device of smartwatch has its own unique way of monitoring your vitals and processing your data, but the vast bulk use detectors on the underside of the watch.

They typically shine minute LED lights onto your wrist which can detect pulsation, identifying your heartbeat. More advanced devices analyse changes in the bioimpedance that runs through the skin to gauge your stress levels.

Expert Perspectives

One expert says that overall for smartwatches, it's a "fine balance" - while the continuously improving tech could realistically aid early diagnosis, "spotting abnormalities before we show symptoms", it could also turn us watch wearers into the "anxious healthy".

He points out that the most advanced wearables can conduct tests like electrocardiograms (ECGs), which continuously monitor how healthy the heart is. They can notify if someone is experiencing atrial fibrillation (AF), where there is irregular signals in the heart causing an irregular heartbeat.

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

But how to understand these figures is not straightforward. The expert concerns that as further capabilities are added, people may find it hard to fully understand their data.

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

A health researcher studying cardiology echoes this sentiment. A study into the effect of wearable tech on a cohort of cardiovascular patients suggested a significant portion of those who were given devices to monitor their cardiac function experienced increased anxiety and were "far more likely to use medical services".

She noted a vicious circle with her patients - they spotted a concerning reading on their watch. They grew concerned. Their heart rate went up. They got increasingly anxious. They re-examined the data, and their reading increased again.

"If we see stats about ourselves that we don't really understand then, of course, we are going to become concerned," the psychologist says. "We check, we check again - it becomes a feedback loop."