Why Everyone is Obsessed with Erling Haaland’s Daily Routine – And Why You Should be too

What are Haaland’s secrets?

I visited Norway this summer and learned everything about culture, diet, and lifestyle. Norwegians all seem to be extremely healthy and happy, which they say all ties back to their culture and typical practices. They have a great work-life balance, prioritize friends, family, hobbies, and health. When I started reading about Erling Haaland, soccer player for Norway and Manchester City, all of his health practices fell exactly into what I learned while I was there.

Since the World Cup has begun, we have seen Erling Haaland as one of the top scorers, and he uses many methods, many of which being Norwegian, to stay healthy and perform the best he can. Not that we are professional athletes and need to copy his habits, but there are definitely some to learn from.

He is all about consistency. He uses blue light glasses before bed and has seen a difference in his sleep. He also goes to bed early and ensures he gets between 9-10 hours of sleep every night.

Everyone’s main rage around Haaland is his food. He is known to eat 6,000 calories a day consisting of heart, liver, fatty steaks, fresh fish, eggs, and root vegetables, plus a homemade smoothie of milk, spinach, and kale that he brings with him to training. What’s more interesting than the calorie count, though, is what’s missing: he skips processed food, sugary drinks, and alcohol almost entirely. This is basically the exact food philosophy Norwegians I met while there practiced. They weren’t counting calories or macros, they were just eating whole, simple foods that hadn’t been altered much from their natural state. Fresh fish, root vegetables, quality dairy. Nothing fancy, nothing processed. It’s a mindset, not a diet plan, and it’s baked into how Norwegians grocery shop and cook every single day.

The sleep piece is where Haaland gets the most attention, and for good reason. He treats sleep as seriously as training, aiming for close to ten hours a night, sleeping in a cool, dark room, and cutting off screens before bed with the help of blue-light-blocking glasses. He’s also said he gets sunlight in his eyes first thing in the morning, which helps reset his body clock for the day. None of this is exotic. It’s just consistency applied to the most basic human need there is. When I was in Norway, our Norwegian Professor with us kept bringing up how seriously people there take rest, not as laziness, but as a non-negotiable part of a functional life. Long, dark winters probably have something to do with why Norwegians are so intentional about protecting their sleep and getting natural light whenever they can, and you can see that same instinct in Haaland’s morning-light habit.

Then there’s recovery, which might be the most Norwegian thing about his whole routine. Haaland has said recovery isn’t a day off, it’s active work: ice baths, physiotherapy, and stretching built into his schedule the same way training sessions are. The difference matters, as a lot of us treat rest as something that happens when we’ve run out of things to do, instead of something we schedule on purpose. In Norway, the same logic shows up in how people treat weekends and evenings. Hobbies, time outdoors, and time with family aren’t squeezed into whatever’s left after work, they’re planned for, same as work is. It’s not about doing less, but more about deciding where you want to put your energy.

One of my favorite details about Haaland’s routine has nothing to do with science at all. Before every home match, he eats a homemade lasagne cooked by his dad. Pep Guardiola even joked publicly about trying to hire Haaland’s father to cook for the whole team. It’s a small ritual, but a reminder that even at the highest level of performance, family and familiarity matter just as much as any recovery protocol.

So what can a non-professional athlete actually take from all of this? Probably not the six thousand calories or the $50,000 cryotherapy chamber. But the underlying habits are possible: eat whole foods instead of processed ones, protect your sleep like it’s part of your job, get outside and get sunlight early in the day, and treat rest as something you plan for. None of it requires being a professional athlete. It just requires deciding that your health is worth being consistent about, which is exactly the lesson I kept coming back to during my time in Norway. Haaland didn’t invent any of this. He’s just living out, very publicly, the same culture that made an entire country feel calmer and healthier than anywhere I’d been before.

By Colleen

 

**Sources:** Men’s Fitness, Striker Report, Owaves, Euronews, Wego Travel Blog

****This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and is not a substitute for a conversation with a qualified healthcare provider. Individual health needs vary. If you have questions about your health, we invite you to schedule a consultation with one of our providers.