Could I Be Dependent on My Smartwatch?
A sense of feeling of anticipation. Apparent is the cold breath exhaled by my rivals as they perform the "about to run" jiggle on the beginning point.
A rapid twitch of the hips.
I'm participating in my local 5km community parkrun and I'm focused. It's almost time...
Wait a second. I must start my device. The same goes for the person alongside me.
The person waiting expresses impatience. I'm not moving until… done! GPS ready, I'm off.
Amidst the crowd, it's challenging to see a arm without a fitness tracker on it. And it's not just us participants who use them.
It's a booming, massive market. Names like Apple Watch dominate, all offering an wide array of diverse devices to cater to a spectrum of needs. Based on how high tech the watch you select, costs can vary between a hundred pounds to a small fortune.
"It makes me crazy, it's impossible to relax."
"It reassures me… It acts as a companion guiding me."
"I wish it wouldn't say I've experienced a poor sleep."
Just some of the comments I've received from other smartwatch wearers when I inquire what they think of theirs.
The Data Dilemma
My current opinion on my own device? At this moment, annoying. It's telling me I'm off pace, causing me to question whether the trees along my route are interfering with my GPS connection.
Millions of us fasten these small devices onto our wrists and use them constantly, ostensibly unconcerned with the fact they're constantly tracking us.
Long past are the days when we used them solely to give us an rough count of our pedometer reading. Currently, they can analyse our nightly rest, stress levels, glucose levels, our VO2 max.
It's difficult to find a health indicator they aren't designed to measure.
But are they able to do what they claim to do? And are the data points we scrutinise a accurate representation of the truth? Do they enhance our daily wellness, or do the multitude of metrics and cheerleading alerts just contribute to our sense of overwhelm?
A Complicated Bond
"I do get a a little obsessed with mine," one user confesses.
While she appreciates how her device tracks her runs, she finds some of its other capabilities "excessive" at times - a feeling that became apparent during a significant period.
Until she found out she could change its configuration, her smartwatch repeatedly informed her she was being insufficiently productive enough. Later on, the watch frequently reports her she's had a poor sleep score.
"I've got a infant, there's no point to be notified I'm tired," she says. "I know that all too clearly."
Couldn't she just remove it?
"I suppose I could, I suppose, but I've got this complicated dynamic with it," she continues. "I love it for its exercise data, I sometimes question whether the additional features it can now do is perhaps excessive for me."
How Do They Work?
Each model of smartwatch has its own novel way of tracking your bodily functions and processing your data, but the vast bulk use detectors on the underside of the watch.
They commonly shine minute LED lights onto your skin which can observe capillary action, detecting your pulse rate. Higher-end devices analyse changes in the bioimpedance that passes over the skin to gauge your nervous system activity.
The Professional Viewpoint
A professor says that overall for smartwatches, it's a "fine balance" - while the ever-evolving tech could realistically aid early diagnosis, "identifying issues before we notice anything", it could also turn us device users into the "worried well".
He points out that newer wearables can conduct tests like heart rhythm analysis, which constantly monitor how normal the heart is. They can alert if someone is experiencing atrial fibrillation (AF), where there is abnormal impulses in the heart causing an arrhythmia.
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 readings is complex. The expert fears that as additional features are incorporated, 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 beneficial thing," he says.
A professor studying cardiology concurs. Research into the impact 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 heightened worry and were "more inclined to use doctor's time".
She identified a pattern with her patients - they noticed a concerning reading on their watch. They became worried. Their BPM rose. They got increasingly anxious. They checked again, and their reading went up again.
"If we see data about ourselves that we don't really understand then, of course, we are going to become concerned," the psychologist says. "We monitor, we obsess - it becomes a feedback loop."
