Some men age like fine wine and others curdle like full-cream milk. David Beckham is the former.The former football champ might be pushing 50 but he arguably looks better than he did during the early 00’s, the father of four effortlessly pulling off youthful looks like this Hawaiian shirt summer ensemble or this crisp smart-casual brunch look.Part of Beckham’s secret to being one of the slickest male celebrities on the planet lies in his willingness and ability to rock a number of different haircuts. Again, while many men his age are fighting a losing battle with their hair, Beckham’s out here experimenting and trying lots of different styles.His latest cut, however, does more than prove his follicular chops. Jumping on Instagram over the weekend to share a simple selfie, ‘Golden Balls’ showed off a close-to-the-bone bleached look that immediately brings to mind the sort of haircuts he rocked during his later years at Manchester United and his stint at Real Madrid as one of the ‘galácticos’.

Beckham’s no stranger to peroxide. Over the years he’s done everything from bleached highlights to blonde ponytails and even a bleached cornrows experiment that remains (arguably) one of the worst haircuts modern football has ever seen.But it’s this very short, very bleached look that really seems to be the haircut that refuses to die, as far as Beckham is concerned. It also shows – we reckon – that society is, in a sense, addicted to peroxide. Just think about it: from Eminem in the early oughts to many of us during lockdown in 2020, bleaching your hair is a crutch many turn to when times are tough.Why? It helps remind you that, though many things may be going to shit, you at least have full control over something.This is why, we reckon, peroxide is the addiction that society will never quite shake.In any case, the more immediate cause of Beckham’s peroxide experiment seems to be his sons Cruz and Romeo’s lockdown haircuts: the boys went the buzzcut and bleach route, and Beckham Sr. joined in, joking “sometimes the boys need reminding who did it first in the 90s”.Bleached hair has also been seen in recent years on the likes of Manchester City rising star Phil Foden, as well as footballing superstar Messi.RELATED: David Beckham Reminds Modern Footballers Who’s The King Of Bleached Blond HairThe last eighteen months have seen men across the globe take a leaf out of Beckham’s book and experiment with buzz cuts and bleaching their hair, as lockdown has given us both an opportunity and an excuse to try something different. That said, not all lockdown looks are as good as the Beckham clans’…

how lads think their isolation head shave will look vs how it turns out pic.twitter.com/eWpRkYIWRx

— ︎joe (@jxeker) March 26, 2020

Beckham’s currently on a high, with the football team he co-owns, Inter Miami CF, having just picked up a crucial win against Nashville in the 2021 MLS season. Founded only three years ago, Inter Miami has had somewhat of a rocky start, so it’s pleasing to see them pick up some momentum.Speaking of Inter Miami, check out Beckham’s custom, one-of-one Inter Miami-inspired Tudor watch.

Read Next

• I Got Brad Pitt’s ‘Fight Club’ Haircut & Now I Deeply Regret It
• Dan Bilzerian’s Aggressive New Haircut Sends The Internet Into A Frenzy
• ‘Historic Moment’: Australian Man Shaves His Million Dollar Beard For Charity

The post David Beckham Proves Peroxide Addiction Is Real With Latest Haircut appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

We’d all like biceps like Kilimanjaro, a chest that would make a pirate weak at the knees and legs for days. The reality is though, unless you make a living from being built (think: actors, influencers, athletes), it’s unlikely you have much more than an hour a day to dedicate to training.

That’s why it’s all the more important to eek the most out of every second.

Enter: The Rock. The 49-year-old former professional wrestler (now Hollywood action movie actor) just jumped up on Instagram to share one of the ways he trains his biceps.

Though his caption involves some scary buzzwords like “blood volume,” the concept is actually quite simple (Bodybuilding.com describes it as “any training method that works to increase the delivery of blood to the muscle”). Like doing one and a half reps, as The Rock can be seen doing below.

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by therock (@therock)

The rock captioned the post, in which he can be seen doing dual 30kg bicep curls, as follows: “We got a great (and intense) one in to close out the week.”

“Finishing exercise of high 1.5 iso reps, blood volume pushed with fun pain.”

“I love when things get uncomfortable, it forces me to disrupt to hold everyone and everything (especially myself) accountable to step the fuck up and get the job done.”

“It’s what we do.”

“Make things uncomfortable, see who rises to the occasion.”

“That’s when you know.”

Bodybuilding.com claims, “incorporating techniques such as 2-4 second peak contractions and 10-second static contractions worked into your routine can help to prevent blood flow and allow metabolites to build up.”

“Once the ‘temporary blockage’ is removed, a large surge of blood is triggered to the area to remove the metabolites. This method of temporarily disrupting normal blood flow can work to create a powerful rush of anabolic-rich blood to the targeted area.”

Though the Rock did not provide details on how his blood volume training works, whatever he’s doing appears to be working. Just look at the guy!

Watch some of The Rock’s toughest workouts below

One word of warning – you should always work with a professional if possible when setting out your training sessions and goals, in order to improve one step at a time, lest you risk a hectic bicep injury –something German bodybuilder Jo Lindner recently found out the hard way (by allegedly lifting a fridge in a compromised position).

The bar’s in your court.

Read Next

• Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Shares Smart Technique For Increasing Gains
• Simple Joe Rogan Fitness Hack Could Significantly Increase Your Gains

The post ‘Blood Volume Training’: The Rock Shares Scary Technique For Massive Gains appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Hollywood is a fugazi. Even in this age of social media, where it’s never been easier to look into the lives of our favourite actors and actresses, you can’t help but feel that 99% of what you see of them is fake. They’re actors, after all: they play a part for a living.

But Ryan Reynolds is an actor who breaks that mould and comes across as a truly genuine, rather unique dude. The 44-year-old Canadian’s offbeat sense of humour contrasts with his exceptional taste and gentlemanly pursuits.

Where other male celebrities are obsessed with their image, he happily fronts interviews in muscle suits and makes a fool of himself. Where other celebrities start average tequila brands, he works with an acclaimed gin brand. And where other men would choose a tux for the red carpet, he chooses corduroy instead. In short, he’s a king.

In New York for the world premiere of his latest film, Free Guy, Reynolds suited up in a spectacular beige cord number paired with a check shirt and brown suede oxfords. It’s a look that’s so incredibly uncool that it wraps around and becomes cool again. 10/10, we say.

Corduroy suits are experiencing somewhat of a comeback in 2021 – indeed, they’re a great smart casual or trans-seasonal suit option (and can make a great statement piece in a formal context, as Reynolds demonstrates).

RELATED: Old School Menswear Pieces That Will Turn You Into A Sartorial God

“What we now recognize as corduroy emerged in the late 18^th century in Manchester, England as factory wear during the Industrial Revolution,” Brooks Brothers relates:

“It would remain a working-class fabric for the next hundred years, only to be discovered in the 1960s by college students and beatniks alike who wore it as an alternative to their chinos and denim jeans. By the late 1970s to 1980s, the popularity of corduroy pants and even shorts grew among preps and surfers – only to be re-appropriated by flannel-clad rockers during the grunge era of the 1990s”.

Fun corduroy fact: while most people assume that the term comes from a corruption of the French corde du roi (“the cord of the King”), the term actually comes from a compound of ‘cord’ (i.e. the raised parts, also called ‘wales’) and ‘duroy’, a kind of lightweight woollen fabric formerly made in the West of England.

We still reckon Reynolds is a king for wearing it, however.

Read Next

• Jonah Hill’s Latest Tattoo Is Proof Getting Inked Isn’t Just About Chasing Trends
• Orlando Bloom Pairs 19th Century Accessory With 21st Century Sneakers

The post Ryan Reynolds Hits The Red Carpet In A Suit Fit For A King appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Your tattoos may look cool now, but how will they look when you’re 60?That may be the most cliché phrase ever uttered about skin ink. But have you ever seen it answered?Enter: the following photo, posted on Thursday, by Instagram account @turkishbarberstr. It shows what the same (or very similar tattoos) look like on a young man compared to how they look on an old man.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Barbers (@turkishbarberstr)

Though some followers were not convinced it was the same man, it still illustrates the point (and who knows, it could well be the same guy).One Instagram user said, in his opinion, neither photo makes him want to go get a full-body tattoo, writing: “This was never a good look.”Another wrote: “Still looks shit.”Others questioned if it was really the same guy: “I agree with a few others,” one said. “Not the same person. How do the stripes go from shaded black to only some shadowing?”“Well u can get laser removal,” another user commented in response.

Watch how tattoo removal works in the video below

Finally, another user, who said they used to work in a tattoo shop, commented: “Color fades over time. And my colored ones faded in 5 years. So yes he had dark red in the stripes. It’s now faded away. Also the smaller detail u have the more it becomes meshed together over the years. So if u want small fonts or small designs it will kinda just bleed together.”

“That’s why the first pic is nice and clear designs. Then… it’s messed up.”

There you have it. You can either take it as a warning or rest assured this adds to the devil-may-care attraction to tattoos in the first place. Take your pick.

Read Next

• How To Choose Tattoos You Won’t Regret When You’re 50
• How Technology Will Change Your Next Tattoo

The post Before & After Photo Reveals What Tattoos Look Like After 50 Years appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Men don’t need to be reminded that the notion of influence seeps into every facet of life. Those who are highly influential tend to leave a profound impression on every person they encounter, whether it be in work, relationships or transitional phases of one’s life.

What the Ali, Jobs and Zuckerbergs of this world exude on the outside however is only just a fraction of what’s required to reach this level of self-greatness. Innovative, confident, resilient, articulate, consistent and opinionated, these are the types of traits which make the impossible attainable.

If you’re in need of some motivation for the start of your working week, these are the eight simple traits you’ll need to step up as an influential man of this world.

Practice Self Belief

Don’t roll those eyes just yet. There’s a legitimate reason that this cliche reason has stood the test of time. Influential people are known to have high expectations and in order to achieve those lofty goals, they first need to believe in their own ability and that nothing they want is out of reach. In addition to that, influential people also spread that belief to those around them in order to magnify that goal. Can one person really change the world? Some of the most influential people today started with just an idea and a lot of determination.

Response Over Retaliation

Influential people have a unique ability to handle criticism when it comes to making a mistake or dealing with someone who has made a mistake. Rather than retaliating and lashing out emotionally at the first instance, influential people tend to take a moment to reflect, think and then deliver an appropriate response of action. The reasoning behind this comes from the fact that influential people know the value of relationships so will do their best not to burn bridges that could potentially help them in their goal. More importantly they also realise that emotional retaliation can have a negative influence on those around them.

Be Consistently Proactive

Proactively seeking out the new is what influential people are wired to do. Rarely do they ever wait for new ideas or technology to find them, rather they actively seek out the latest trends to employ in their own personal pursuits. These people are also called early adopters, people who can forecast to a degree of what is about the be the next big thing. So keep your eyes and ears open and once you find it, be one of the first to spread it.

Prioritising What Really Matters

Influential people will always face resistance in one form or another on the road to glory. The point to take away here is to see through those trivialities, detractors and negativities whilst focusing only on what matters. Once this is clear, influential people filter this message down to their team for effective action. If you look at someone like Elon Musk, pointless banter rarely enters his psyche. He has an important message, he shares it and then backs it up with action. This is the way of a truly influential visionary.

Use Your Networks

A big advantage of influence is being able to connect and forge a lasting relationship with likeminded people. As such, an important skill of becoming an influential man is about knowing how to make connections and then capitalising on those with the connections’ of connections. In the end this all benefits the team behind you as invaluable knowledge can be shared in areas of expertise that one might not already possess. This can ultimately make one’s job a lot easier and faster.

Inspire Conversation

If you look at some of the world’s most influential people, you’ll realise that they’re not only good at their jobs but also a master at creating conversation about their product, service or vision. More specifically, they raise awareness in issues that were once overlooked or entirely unknown. Influential people use this skill to inspire others to explore new ideas and ways of approaching challenges.

Be Disruptive For The Right Reason

Being influential means that one rarely settles for the status quo in pursuit of something great. It’s always about pushing the limits and asking questions like ‘why not?’ and ‘what if?’ until a new result arises. Rarely afraid to take on the conventions of wisdom, influential people will disrupt an industry not just for the sake of it but to also make products or processes better.

Be A Lone Thinker

Being influential means not being affected by the latest trends or public opinions floating about. The key is to form a single opinion derived from one’s own research and facts. That’s not to say to be stubborn, but more so that when the facts support a different view, to be open to changing one’s mind. An influential man isn’t swayed by what others think, only what he knows.

The post 8 Ways To Be An Influential Man appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

If you’ve ever felt bad about wasting your time on one dud date; imagine how bad you’d feel if you were stuck with them as the only person you could see for months on end…

That’s the dilemma facing many Sydney singles right now after a ‘buddy system’ from earlier in the lockdown (which allowed intimate partners to visit each other) has morphed into a ‘one person system’ which allows NSW singles who are living by themselves to nominate one person to visit them (that person cannot change over the course of the lockdown).

This system was dubbed a ‘singles bubble.’

“If you have been or are living by yourself, you are allowed to nominate one person that is allowed to visit you, but it has to be the same person,” Berejiklian said during a press conference announcing the ‘singles bubble.’

“You cannot have a different person every day. You have to nominate that one person that is your buddy or is part of your singles bubble for the [remainder of the lockdown] to make sure that we do not spread the virus.”

DMARGE spoke to one Sydney singleton who said they were really feeling the pressure on who to pick.

 “There’s options with some past flings I’ve been talking to… but to be honest none I wanna put up with haha.”

Relationship expert Samantha Jayne told DMARGE: “Oh I feel for single people out there! Covid is tough! The good thing is that I have found that people are more genuine and don’t want to waste time. If you feel like ‘you don’t want to put up with someone’ then you’re better off embracing this as an opportunity to work on you.”

“Use the time to find that inner happiness, view it as some sort of retreat, take some online courses, take up a new hobby that you’ve always wanted to do, clear out your closet and declutter your space. Get into rituals, rituals are routines which you practise at least 3 times a week.”

“The more you do this, the more certainty and clarity you will feel. Start planning the life you want by watching inspirational videos and ted talks, reading books etc. Just keep your mind focused on where you want to be. Don’t spend time with a buddy that is going to annoy you just for the sake of it, life is precious and make every moment count!”

“Now is actually a good opportunity to get online if you are single and expand your network…you can always start with video chats and see where things go when lockdown ends.”

Heidi Gee, sex therapist and couple’s counsellor, told DMARGE, “it depends on what you need.”

“If you are single and are missing your friends and you don’t have friends and family that are really close but you’ve got a fuck buddy who’s close and you’re both on the same page then hey, choose your fuck buddy.”

“If you need a friend; choose your friend.”

Heidi says to ask yourself: do I need sex? Do I need intimacy? Do I need a friend? Do I need a family?

“Contact that person – are they in the same boat? Are they willing to give? Can they give you what you need? Can you provide the same?”

She also says to consider safety (“are they also following the rules?”).

“What will I get that from that person? Can I give them what they need and safety?”

RELATED: Australia Facing Loneliness Crisis, Relationship Experts Confirm

For her part, Samantha recommends you “find someone with aligned values, someone who lifts you up, makes you happy and you feel like a team.”

“If you’re on the same page then lockdown will be fun! It’s important you can communicate openly and honestly, there will be times when you need space you need to know how to navigate this so you are both happy.”

“Consider how neat vs. messy; how will that feel if you are completely different, what type of food choices do you have etc. Birds of a feather flock together.”

There are benefits and risks to taking the plunge and picking a friend with benefits as your lockdown ‘person’ over simply a friend or family member.

According to Samantha, the benefit is “you get to fast track getting to know each other.”

“It’s new and exciting and it could really take things to the next level.”

The main risk, Samantha told us, is “if you are highly incompatible and you drive each other crazy!”

“The worst case scenario is they turn out to be a sociopath. Don’t laugh: it happens! You can’t always tell…they seem like normal everyday people but sociopaths love to move fast, they love bomb you, and seem like they are so incredibly fantastic that once you’re in you can’t get out! So I will tread carefully… sometimes it is better the devil you know.”

Sydney, you’ve been warned.

Read Next

• ‘Pedestalling’: The Dating Trend You Need To Watch Out For In 2021
• ‘Paperclipping’ Is The Most Infuriating New Dating Trend That’s Also Irresistible 

The post Sydney's Lockdown 'Buddy System' Leaves Singles With Uncomfortable Predicament appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Think being a keto-warrior is the only way to eat? Or are you someone who swears by intermittent fasting? Well, despite being told that in today’s world we need to have at least three square meals a day – breakfast, lunch and dinner, with extra snacks thrown in for those who are looking to pack on some muscle – it could be possible to get all the calories and nutrients you need from just one meal a day.

Think we sound crazy? Hear us out.

The controversial revelation was first brought to our attention on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast (episode #1670), which saw host Joe Rogan sit down with Australian biologist David Sinclair. David is the professor of genetics and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School.

Watch David Sinclair talk about intermittent fasting

Talking about longevity, which David claims isn’t to do with living longer but rather “being healthier for longer,” he claims he “skips meals,” adding, “it’s not that hard, I now feel weird if I have a meal for breakfast or lunch, and I try not to snack too.”

“This idea of nutritionists’, thee meals a day plus snacks, never be hungry, is killing us.”

“We know that if you do these things to animals [restrict eating], in controlled settings, they live longer, a lot longer, sometimes 20-30 per cent longer because they’re healthier. They don’t get cancer or heart disease or dementia.”

“I don’t know why we don’t all do that, I think we just like to sit around and eat.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by David Sinclair (@davidsinclairphd)

To further understand exactly what David is claiming, Joe asks him if eating one meal a day helps you live longer because it is less taxing on your digestive system, or if there is some “sort of mechanism that leads to decay of the human body due to overconsumption?”

David says it’s more of the latter.

“Overconsumption, or just consumption in general, makes your body complacent, and we know this in great detail at the molecular level. There are genes that respond to how much you’re eating and what you’re eating, and whether you’re exercising, and these are called longevity genes, and they give our body resilience.”

Later in the podcast, Joe circles back to the one meal a day topic. He asks David, “supposing you have your one meal that comprises 2,000 calories and you have this meal at 6 p.m. and you fast for 24 hours until you eat again at 6 p.m., if you have this one meal a day, why is better to do that, than to have smaller meals of 500 calories multiple times per day?”

David answers, “Going back 6 million years our bodies were designed, or evolved, to respond to adversity, and we’ve removed that from our lives, because it feels good.”

“But we need adversity to be resilient and to fight disease. So what I’m saying is that period of hunger – and it’s not even hunger these days, I don’t even feel hungry if I don’t eat – and it takes a few weeks, so if anyone was going to start, give it some time.”

“But what’s happening in the body is you’re turning on these adversity hormesis response genes, we call them longevity genes. And they make the body fight ageing and diseases.”

“So by eating throughout the day – first of all, it’s not true that you need to be full or fed to think clearly, it’s clear that people who fasting have as good, or if not better mental capabilities – but if you’re always satiated, or fed, your body’s saying ‘hey, I just killed a mammoth, no problem, don’t need to worry about survival and screw my long term survival’. It’s all about long term survival, by making the body freak out and think there are tough times.”

“Trust me, the data is very clear that this is the way to go if you want to be healthy in your 80s and 90s.”

To find out if we really should be heeding David’s advice and cutting out the majority of our daily meals entirely, DMARGE spoke exclusively to Jessica Spendlove, sports dietician at Health & Performance Collective.

Jessica agrees that “millions of year ago our ancestors did eat this way.”

“But it is important to consider that a lot has changed since then, including life expectancy and the way we live our lives. Our ancestors used to hunt for their food, for example, which was a necessity for survival.”

As for whether one meal can be genuinely beneficial, Jessica says “different strategies can certainly work for different people.”

“While there is research supporting the benefits of fasting with some health outcomes and ageing, it is also important to consider the individual, their medical background, their life and what works for them, rather than having a blanket stand point or one size fits all approach, which is why working with individuals and considering all of the factors is so important.”

If you’re someone who is regularly active, whether it be an athlete or a gym-goer, we’re always told we need to keep eating in order to put on muscle and drop body fat. So how does the one meal a day idea fall into place here?

Jessica claims, “With the types of clients I see and work with, which is active inidividuals, I sit in the camp of regular feeding throughout the fay, but with intentionality.”

“Quality and quantity of nutrients is very important, it isn’t just about sitting there and grabbing all day and the type of food definitely matters.”

“A predominantly plant-based whole food, high fibre diet, with good quality proteins which is minimally processed is a very different way of eating to an over-processed, poor quality, westernised diet which a lot of people consume.”

As for those wishing to build muscle, Jessica adds, “the research is very clear that to optimise muscle growth, the process of muscle protein synthesis requires frequent boluses of high quality protein in the realm of 20-40 grams three to five times per day, in addition to resistance training.”

“While in theory you could consume the right amount of calories and nutrients in one meal (potentially the application of that may be difficult), the piece of the puzzle this would not solve is the frequent and regular distribution.”

And, as for whether fasting, no matter the time frame, has its benefits over regular snacking, Jessica sits somewhere in the middle.

“This is very dependent on the person. If I consider the active person or athlete, there is so much research supporting the benefit of regular eating from a fuelling and recovery standpoint. There is a lot of research showing the role of nutrition in immune support and function, as well as injury prevention and management.”

“While there may be a place for fasting in some people, anyone training for results or performance, would need to be very strategic about when they were deciding to fast.”

Read Next

• ‘Worse Than Smoking A Cigarette’: What Fried Food Really Does To Your Body
• Forget The Ketogenic Diet; 2021 Is All About Being A ‘Nutrivore’

The post David Sinclair Diet Could Help You Cheat Death appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Any selfie-obsessed friend could tell you that understanding your most attractive face angles is key to snapping the perfect portrait. Science takes things a step further, and says that once specific angle is seen as more handsome than the others.

A study found that people’s left cheeks are typically perceived as better looking than their right cheeks. Participants were shown a series of male and female faces with both left-sided and right-sided views. Their pupils consistently dilated more when they observed the left , a sign that they were more attracted to the left-side view of that person’s face.

The study’s authors believe the phenomenon could be explained by the way emotions are processed in the brain. Broadly speaking, the right side of the brain is more involved with emotional expression, and the right side of the brain controls the muscles on the left side of the body. That means your left cheek tends to exhibit a greater intensity of emotion, which observers find more aesthetically pleasing.

“Our findings provide support for a number of concepts,” write the study’s authors, “the notions of lateralized emotion and right hemispheric dominance with the right side of the brain controlling the left side of the face during emotional expression.”

This phenomenon has been coined “left-side bias”, and has been reaffirmed in a separate study in Australia, in which scientists analysed people’s reactions to a sample of 2000 selfies.

Interestingly, this could also explain why artists show a strong preference for capturing their subjects from the left side. According to the study, an “examination of 1,474 Western European portraits found that the majority of posers (~64 %) exposed their left cheeks while only ~33 % exposed their right cheeks. More importantly, this leftward bias occurred more often in portraits of women than in portraits of men.”

So next time someone says, “Say cheese!” or your barber asks which way to part your hair, put your best face – your left face – forward. Or in other words: don’t make like this guy…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by P H I L (@philboot) on Nov 6, 2018 at 12:55pm PST

RELATED: Look Good In Photographs – Five Foolproof Tips For Men 

The post The Most Attractive Side Of Your Face, According To Science appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Would you worry about the risk of getting in your car and driving away from the beach if you heard a Tsunami was on the way?

Though that’s not a perfect analogy (among other things, it remains to be seen whether a large scale COVID-19 outbreak will hit anywhere other than Sydney between now and when Pfizer is available to all Australians under 60), for Sydney it bears a certain resemblance to our discussion around: “Should I get the AstraZeneca vaccine or wait for Pfizer.”

At the time of writing, the official health advice is to strongly consider getting any approved vaccine available to you ASAP, if you live in a city with a large outbreak of COVID-19 (like Sydney). Both Pfizer and AstraZeneca are approved by ATAGI. Both are safe and effective. The only reason to think twice would be if you are at a heightened risk for one of them. Something which would be very rare, and which you would discuss with your GP, who knows your medical history.

However, given Pfizer is still, per ATAGI, the preferred (and, at the time of writing, unavailable) vaccine for Australians in their 20s and 30s (due to the very rare risk of the TTS blood clotting syndrome associated with AstraZeneca, which appears to occur slightly more frequently in younger people), and given that up until this latest outbreak Australian experts were urging against 20 and 30-year-olds going out and getting AstraZeneca (because the risk at that time of them getting COVID-19 was basically zero), it’s understandable you might feel some butterflies around now getting AstraZeneca.

But the official advice has changed for good reason. If you live in Sydney, the risks of getting COVID-19 now vastly outweigh the incredibly rare risks associated with getting the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Also – contracting COVID-19 carries a significantly greater risk of the same rare TTS clotting condition that is making people hesitant about getting the AstraZeneca vaccine in the first place. Not to mention: the vaccine massively reduces your chances of serious illness or death should you get COVID-19 (and also stops you spreading it so much).

Basically, if you live in Sydney and are not yet eligible for Pfizer – unless you are at a heightened risk profile for the AstraZeneca vaccine – you probably should be getting the AstraZeneca vaccine (the reason we say probably is because we’re not doctors. Go and talk to your GP to get your individual risk/reward profile measured).

If you’re curious about what it’s like to get the AstraZeneca vaccine as a young person, we just had a chat with a young Sydneysider who recently got it – DMARGE’s very own e-commerce specialist, Hugo Whitehead.

Hugo has wanted a vaccine all along. For him it wasn’t so much a matter of the medical advice changing – to open up AstraZeneca to all adults who live in Sydney in light of the Delta outbreak – it was simply a matter of availability (“I was happy to get it as long as I was able to”).

He said he made the decision, called his GP, booked it in and: “it was pretty easy.”

“I organised a telehealth consultation beforehand – they talk to you about what the possible side effects are, and address the controversies that have been brought about in the media, but honestly: the phone call lasted four minutes and they tell you ‘this is what it is’ and I’d read up on all about it.”

Why did Hugo decide to get AstraZeneca now? “There’s going to come a point in the near future where we will be living in a two-tier society – those who are vaccinated and those who are not – and I want to be able to do what I want to do. I’m sick of being stuck at home.”

“It’s also important for NSW and Sydney as a whole to get it done so we can reduce the cases and get out of this lockdown.”

“I don’t know about other people, but all of my friends are getting it. I typically surround myself with very switched on people and they’ve all looked at the same numbers I have. I think anyone who’s rational would see there’s really next to no risk at all associated with getting this vaccine.”

“I just wanted to get it done.”

Hugo also said he didn’t want to wait for the government “to make all these promises” then when that time comes around for Pfizer to potentially still not be available: “I’d rather just do something with certainty rather than muck around.”

“Now I’ve got the first dose, I’ve got the ball rolling.”

Hugo got his first dose within a week of deciding he wanted it.

He added: “The reality is the Delta variant is much worse than the COVID-19 we faced last year. Now [more] young people are getting sick, which is another reason to get it.”

“A lot of the advice they gave [previously, about waiting for Pfizer], was based on living in an ideal world, which we’re not anymore.”

“We’re no longer operating under those circumstances, which is why that advice had to change.”

Hugo is also an elite sprinter. Something which played into his decision-making too.

“I got a nasty flu at the beginning of lockdown and that really knocked me back. I was bedridden for a week. Then training even three weeks after I felt borderline asthmatic (and I’m not asthmatic). From what I’ve heard Covid-19 has the potential to ruin an athletes career, so yeah, that was definitely another reason why.”

“I think there’s a higher chance of you getting into your car… when was the last time you thought about dying the last time you got into your car to go somewhere – because I certainly never do that.”

DMARGE would also like to encourage anyone still weighing up their options to read this open letter, published in The Australian on the 5th of August 2021, in which leading Australian doctors present the case for all Australians who are eligible to seek vaccination as soon as possible.

“Astra Zeneca vaccine is safe and effective. The rare blood clotting condition, TTS, occurs in 2-3 per 100,000 people following AZ vaccination, but COVID-19 kills about 3% and causes long-term illness in 10-30%, of those who contract it.”

“Young people are not exempt. The delta variant can emerge anywhere, and vaccination is essential to complement testing, contact tracing and isolation and avoid future lockdowns.”

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The post I'm 21 & Got The AstraZeneca Vaccine. This Is Why I Decided To Do It appeared first on DMARGE Australia.