Why Erling Haaland wears blue glasses in health hack that helps make him be lethal on the pitch
You may have seen footy megastar Erling Haaland sporting a pair of funky-coloured glasses on his social media feeds over the years, and we're here to tell you why.
Set to lock horns with the England national team as part of the surprise-package Norway side in the quarter-finals of the World Cup this weekend, the prolific goalscorer tapped up Ra Optics' products a number of years ago in a bid to hack his health.
Per the Manchester Evening News, Haaland's association with the coloured specs dates back to 2018, when the fledgling attacker first encountered entrepreneur and Ra Optics boss Matt Maruca.
Maruca had become an expert on both artificial light and the sun's emissions of blue light, discovering that they disrupt our natural body clock and therefore our sleep, and so was born his uniquely-lensed glasses.
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"I was in Molde the year before he was transferred in and I happened to be there when he was settling in and we connected, we chatted, we spent some time together," recalled the businessman.
Maruca went on to elaborate: "It feels like a crazy coincidence but he's been using our products and following the practices that we've shared as a company.
"We talk about not just wearing the glasses but also being out in morning sunlight to help regulate the body's rhythm.
"There's a lot of attention on this but the biggest thing to note - and Erling knows and the coaching staff know - is that sleep is so important for recovery for these athletes. Everyone knows if you can't sleep for two or three days you can't do anything, so think about how much difference bad sleep can make in your life or good sleep can as far as mental clarity."
By exposing ourselves to unnatural light when the sun goes down, we're essentially 'throwing off' our body's rhythm, affecting cognition and physical performance in the long run.
By wearing these athlete-maximising glasses, Haaland also beats the inevitable depletion caused by jet lag as he tours the world for matches, year in year out.
"With jet lag, when we're crossing time zones our rhythm gets thrown off because the sun is coming up in Japan at a completely different time in Manchester," Maruca explained.
"Their body's rhythm has to adjust so their hormones aren't producing melatonin in the middle of the day when they have to be on the pitch performing. That cycle thankfully isn't fixed, but in order to adjust we have to get that signal of light and if somebody is exposed to this artificial light at night instead of natural darkness, they say in science it causes a phase delay."
Sticking on the glasses during a long-haul flight, for example, allows users to control when their brain recognises times of the day, 'whereas most places you get to the destination and they turn on the lights on the airplane and they have bright lights at the airport and that makes it harder to finally get to sleep when you arrive.
"With the glasses, you can fall asleep really quickly after all that travel and then wake up earlier, feel fresher, and adjust to your new timezone much faster than someone who has been affected by all this disruptive light."
And that, in part, is how you create a monster like Haaland.
Where to buy blue light glasses
Ra Optics Glasses
£154.99
Spectra479 Blue Blocking Amber Glasses
£43.20
Flowlife Flowglasses
£129
Topics: Football, Technology, World Cup, Health
Dan Seddon