Erling Haaland has assisted Manchester City players in their efforts to speed up their recuperation times.
The Etihad may not yet serve heart and liver, but Manchester City is suddenly obsessed with Erling Haalandโs eyewear.
The 23-year-old Norwegian is already one of the most recognizable brands in football in addition to being one of the best players in the world. This can be seen in the increases in ticket and shirt sales at the Etihad since his arrival last year, as well as the clamor wherever he goes (tickets for the team training session in South Korea last week were advertised at around ยฃ20, and 23,000 people showed up). He has also recently modeled at an upscale Dolce and Gabbana store, demonstrating how his fame extends beyond football.
Haaland may captivate even those who have little interest in the game, but he can also captivate those who see him frequently. Jack Grealish is one of the players who has grown attached to the spectacles that Cityโs striker wears at night to aid in his recuperation. He bought them for the entire squad to enjoy and use.
The tale of the spectacles begins in 2018, when a 17-year-old Haaland entered his brand-new club Molde and ran with a Philadelphian adolescent who had just launched his own company. The creator and CEO of Ra Optics, Matt Maruca, would like to believe that while his company wasnโt the first to offer glasses that shield users from dangerous blue light in the air, he was the first to make them appear fashionable.
Maruca, who had health issues as a child, dedicated his high school years to learning everything he could about blue light, which may disturb the bodyโs circadian rhythm but is also present in sunlight and helps set it. While the teen discovered that blocking the harmful blue light improved his sleep and health, he also discovered that the only options available to him were โthese really clunky safety goggles from Amazon โ they looked like Terminator glasses,โ which were not ideal for any high school student who wanted to socialize in the evening.
A few weeks after graduation, Maruca founded Ra Optics to target everyone else interested in health and wellness, even if colored glasses are necessary for blocking out blue light. It didnโt take long for the clientele to expand to include athletes from the NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA, and a Norwegian soccer player who would go on to become one of the worldโs most recognizable faces.
Maruca explained to the Manchester Evening News that she โjust so happened to meet Erling in Norway six years ago.โ โHe was 17 at the time, which makes it Molde five years ago.
โI was in Molde the year before he was brought in, and I just so happened to be there when he was moving in. We got along, we had a few conversations, and we spent some time together. The epidemic then occurred, and he rode his rocket ship to fame.
โI reflect on the traits I saw in this young kid back then that I can now see displaying in his work. How focused he was was one of the most astonishing things. He was hunched over and his eyes were as sharp as lightning on the target.
โIt seems like an absurd coincidence, but he has been using our products and abiding by the standards that our organization has established. We discuss both wearing the glasses and being outside in the early morning sunlight to help the bodyโs rhythm. The amazing thing is that what we discussed years ago is now mainstream.
The most important point to make is that sleep is crucial for these athletesโ recovery, something that Erling and the coaching team are aware of. Everyone is aware that if you canโt sleep for two or three days, you canโt do anything, so consider the difference between getting good sleep and getting bad sleep in terms of your ability to think clearly.
โI saw a video on Instagram of [Leo] Messi scanning the field so many times per second, itโs unbelievable! I was unaware of how much thought and planning was involved, how much cognitive function was needed, and how sleep affects both our mental and physical performance. Simply by being exposed to artificial light at night, we disrupt this fundamental pattern, which causes us to make more melatonin and have less success falling asleep.
Haaland acknowledges that wearing the special spectacles at night to aid in his bodyโs natural rhythmโs production of melatonin for better sleep has enhanced his football by a few percentage points and has maintained contact with Maruca ever since their unexpected encounter. As Haaland has become more well-known among athletes, more footballers are showing an interest in adopting some of his training techniques. Ra Optics has received inquiries from elite professionals and clubs after Cityโs No. 9 posted on social media about the glasses. Everyone is always looking for new methods to enhance performance.
That includes at the Etihad, where Haaland was able to procure the spectacles for the entire City team to aid their rest and recovery in between games thanks to the intrigue from his teammates. Along with enhancing sleep on a daily basis, they have helped the players during the preseason trip of Japan and South Korea by reducing jet lag, and Grealish is a big supporter.
When traveling with jet lag, Maruca observed, โour rhythm gets thrown off because the sun rises in Japan at a completely different time than it does in Manchester.โ To prevent their hormones from releasing melatonin in the middle of the day when they must be on the playing field, their bodyโs rhythm must be adjusted.
Thankfully, this cycle is not fixed, but in order to adjust, we need a signal of light. According to scientists, if someone is exposed to artificial light at night instead of natural darkness, it will result in a phase delay or shift.
