Dr Naveen Thiyagu Bashingam

Dr Naveen Thiyagu Bashingam Dr. Naveen Thiyagu 🦴
Orthopedic Surgeon | Health Educator
🎥 Bone & Joint Awareness | No self-treatment advice
விழிப்புணர்விற்காக மட்டும் 👨‍⚕️

What if your first workout only needed 10 minutes?Not 60.Not an hour at the gym.Not a complicated training programme.Jus...
28/08/2026

What if your first workout only needed 10 minutes?

Not 60.

Not an hour at the gym.

Not a complicated training programme.

Just:

5 minutes away from home.

5 minutes back.

That’s 10 minutes of movement.

And the point isn’t that 10 minutes is a magic prescription.

The point is that a small beginning can make it easier to turn movement into a habit.

If 10 minutes becomes easy, gradually increase the duration or frequency.

You could:

🚶 Walk after dinner
☀️ Walk after lunch
🪜 Take suitable stairs
📱 Walk during an appropriate phone call
🌳 Add a longer weekend walk

The objective isn’t to impress anyone.

It’s to make movement a repeatable part of your life.

Because one of the biggest barriers to exercise isn’t always lack of knowledge.

Sometimes it’s simply:

“I’ll start tomorrow.”

So make today’s goal small.

Small enough that your tired brain can’t negotiate its way out of it.

10 minutes. Then build.

👇 Would you realistically be able to find 10 minutes today?

Comment YES if you can.

And share this with someone who believes they need a full hour before exercise is “worth it.”

👉 Read more about building physical activity into everyday life on our website.

150 minutes a week sounds intimidating.Until you break it down.It could look like:30 minutes × 5 daysor roughly:22 minut...
27/08/2026

150 minutes a week sounds intimidating.

Until you break it down.

It could look like:

30 minutes × 5 days

or roughly:

22 minutes every day

or several shorter periods accumulated throughout the week.

Suddenly, 150 minutes doesn’t look like one giant task.

It becomes a series of small decisions.

And there’s another important point:

You don’t have to begin at 150 minutes.

If you’re currently inactive, starting with:

10 minutes > 0 minutes

75 minutes > 0 minutes

The goal isn’t to find one perfect schedule.

It’s to create a pattern you can sustain.

Maybe that’s a walk after dinner.

Maybe it’s taking the stairs.

Maybe it’s breaking up long periods of sitting.

Maybe it’s several short periods of movement throughout your day.

Then gradually build.

A beginning is a beginning.

👇 Which approach would fit your life best?

1️⃣ 30 minutes × 5 days
2️⃣ ~22 minutes every day
3️⃣ Several shorter periods
4️⃣ I need to start from zero

Comment the number.

And if you’ve ever said “I don’t have enough time to exercise,” share this with someone who says the same.

👉 Read the full evidence behind exercise targets and physical activity on our website.

What if doing MORE exercise doesn’t automatically mean getting TWICE the benefit?We often think about exercise like this...
26/08/2026

What if doing MORE exercise doesn’t automatically mean getting TWICE the benefit?

We often think about exercise like this:

More exercise = more health.

And while becoming more physically active can bring important benefits, the relationship isn’t necessarily linear.

The graphic illustrates a curvilinear dose-response relationship.

Going from:

Nothing → something

can produce a large improvement.

Going from:

Something → more

can provide additional benefit.

But as activity increases, the additional gains may become smaller.

That’s why the goal shouldn’t be:

❌ “Exercise as much as physically possible.”

Instead:

1. START

Begin where you are.

2. BUILD

Gradually increase your activity.

3. SUSTAIN

Make it part of your routine.

You don’t need to become an endurance athlete to benefit from physical activity.

And if you’re currently inactive, don’t underestimate the value of simply taking the first step.

A 10-minute walk isn’t “nothing.”

A little movement isn’t “failure.”

Consistency matters.

👇 Which describes you best?

1 — I barely exercise
2 — I move, but inconsistently
3 — I exercise regularly
4 — I train seriously

Tell us below.

And share this with someone who thinks “if I can’t do a full workout, there’s no point.”

👉 Read the full evidence and context on our website.

You quit smoking. Now what?Stopping smoking is one of the most important steps you can take for your health.But what if ...
25/08/2026

You quit smoking. Now what?

Stopping smoking is one of the most important steps you can take for your health.

But what if you stopped years ago?

Is it too late to benefit from becoming physically active?

The evidence discussed in the Moore analysis is encouraging.

Among former smokers, compared with inactive former smokers, moderate-to-vigorous leisure-time physical activity was associated with higher estimated life expectancy.

The estimates increased with activity:

150–299 minutes/week → ~4.1 additional estimated years

450+ minutes/week → ~5.5 additional estimated years

But there is an important scientific distinction.

These are observational associations.

They are not promises that exercising for a particular number of minutes will add exactly that many years to your life.

And exercise does not erase the damage or risk associated with smoking.

That’s why the message isn’t:

“Exercise can undo smoking.”

It’s:

STOP SMOKING + STAY PHYSICALLY ACTIVE

If you’ve already quit smoking, don’t think you’ve missed your opportunity to improve your health.

Your next healthy decision can still matter.

👇 If you’ve quit smoking, how long has it been?

Tell us below—or simply share this with someone who needs the reminder that it’s not too late to start moving.

👉 Read the full evidence on our website.

“I’ll start exercising after I lose weight.”This sounds logical.But it can create a frustrating cycle:I need to lose wei...
24/08/2026

“I’ll start exercising after I lose weight.”

This sounds logical.

But it can create a frustrating cycle:

I need to lose weight → so I’ll exercise later → I don’t exercise → I struggle to change my weight → I’ll start later.

You don’t necessarily have to wait.

The Moore analysis found an association between physical activity and longer life expectancy across BMI categories, including people with overweight and obesity.

And physical activity isn’t only about making the number on the weighing scale go down.

It can support:

❤️ Cardiorespiratory fitness
💪 Muscle strength
⚙️ Metabolic health
🏃 Functional capacity
🛡️ Long-term health

That doesn’t mean weight doesn’t matter.

Weight management matters.

But don’t make weight loss the entry ticket to movement.

You can work on your weight while also becoming more physically active.

And you don’t have to begin with intense exercise.

Start where you are.

Move more.
Build gradually.
Become stronger.
Improve your fitness.

Don’t wait to lose weight before you start moving.

👇 Have you ever postponed exercise because you wanted to lose weight first?

YES or NO?

Share your answer below.

And if someone in your life is waiting for the “right weight” before becoming active, share this with them.

👉 Read the full evidence on our website.

15/08/2026

What if you can only do HALF the recommended amount of exercise?

Is it still worth it?

Absolutely worth starting.

A 2023 systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis covering 196 publications looked at the relationship between physical activity and mortality.

At around 75 minutes of moderate activity per week, compared with inactivity, the researchers found associations with:

❤️ 23% lower all-cause mortality
🫀 19% lower cardiovascular mortality
🎗️ 10% lower cancer mortality

And here’s the part I really want you to remember:

75 minutes is only HALF of the commonly recommended 150 minutes per week.

That doesn’t make it the perfect target.

It doesn’t mean 75 minutes guarantees a specific outcome for you.

And the estimate that potentially 1 in 10 premature deaths could be prevented if everyone reached this level is a modelled population estimate based on an assumed causal relationship—not a prediction for any individual.

But it destroys one dangerous mindset:

“If I can’t do enough, there’s no point.”

No.

Half the target is not failure.

It may not be the destination.

But it can be an excellent beginning.

👇 What’s realistic for you right now?

30 minutes / 75 minutes / 150+ minutes / I’m starting from zero

Comment your answer.

👉 Want to understand what the research actually found? Read the full evidence on our website.

14/08/2026

Can exercise make up for smoking?

Not exactly.

But if you’ve quit smoking, there may still be a powerful reason to become physically active.

In research on former smokers, those reporting higher levels of moderate-to-vigorous leisure-time physical activity were associated with longer estimated life expectancy compared with those reporting no such activity.

The estimated differences increased across activity levels—from approximately 4.1 years in the 150–299 minute group to around 5.5 years in the highest activity group.

But don’t turn those numbers into a promise.

These are associations, not guaranteed outcomes for an individual.

The bigger message?

Quitting smoking is not the end of the story.

Your body still has something to gain from movement.

And if you’re thinking:

“What if I still smoke but exercise?”

Here’s the important distinction:

Exercise does not turn a cigarette into a health product.

The ideal combination is simple:

🚭 Stop smoking.
🏃 Stay physically active.

One doesn’t replace the other.

👇 If someone told you exercise can “cancel out” smoking, what would you say?

YES / NO / NOT SURE

👉 We break down the evidence and what it actually means on our website.

Imagine having two people working in the same transport system… but one spends the day sitting while the other keeps mov...
14/08/2026

Imagine having two people working in the same transport system… but one spends the day sitting while the other keeps moving.

That’s exactly what makes this old study so fascinating.

In 1953, researchers studied approximately 31,000 male London transport workers.

The drivers spent much of their working day seated.

The conductors walked through double-decker buses, issued tickets and repeatedly climbed stairs.

The annual incidence of a first coronary heart disease episode was approximately:

Drivers — 2.7 per 1,000
Conductors — 1.9 per 1,000

The conductors weren’t gym enthusiasts.

Their “exercise programme” was essentially built into their job.

But there’s an important scientific warning:

This was an observational study. It cannot prove that the difference was caused by physical activity alone. The researchers considered other possible explanations too.

So we shouldn’t turn this into:

“Walking prevents heart disease.”

The more interesting question is:

What happens when movement—or sitting—becomes something we repeat for years?

Think about your own day.

🚗 Drive to work.
💻 Sit at work.
📱 Sit while using your phone.
📺 Sit at home.

Then ask yourself:

Where does movement actually happen?

👇 Tell us:

Are you mostly sitting or mostly moving during your working day?

And if this made you look differently at your daily routine, share it with someone who spends most of their day sitting.

👉 We explain the full study and its limitations on our website.

What if the reason you don’t exercise… is because you think you have to do too much?“150 minutes a week.”For someone alr...
13/08/2026

What if the reason you don’t exercise… is because you think you have to do too much?

“150 minutes a week.”

For someone already exercising, that may sound manageable.

For someone working long hours, caring for family, dealing with pain, commuting or simply struggling to build a routine…

it can sound like another impossible target.

And when the target feels impossible, many people choose zero.

But here’s something interesting.

A large analysis by Moore and colleagues found that around 75 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week was associated with a lower mortality risk compared with no leisure-time moderate-to-vigorous activity.

That’s about 11 minutes a day.

Not a magic number.

Not a guarantee.

And certainly not proof that exactly 11 minutes of walking will add exactly 1.8 years to your life.

The evidence was observational and describes associations at a population level.

But it gives us a powerful idea:

You don’t have to begin with the final target.

You can begin with a smaller amount.

Then build.

A short walk.

A few more minutes of movement.

Taking the stairs when you can.

Breaking up long periods of sitting.

Small beginnings can become habits.

👇 Now tell us honestly:

What is the biggest barrier between you and regular exercise?

1️⃣ No time
2️⃣ Pain/discomfort
3️⃣ Lack of motivation
4️⃣ Don’t know where to begin

Comment the number.

And if this made you rethink the way you approach exercise, share it with someone who keeps saying, “I don’t have enough time to exercise.”

👉 For the complete evidence and explanation, visit our website.

THIN ≠ FIT.A number on the weighing scale can tell you your body mass.But it cannot tell you how fit your heart is, how ...
12/08/2026

THIN ≠ FIT.

A number on the weighing scale can tell you your body mass.

But it cannot tell you how fit your heart is, how strong your muscles are, how active you are, or how well your cardiovascular system performs.

One large analysis involving 650,000+ people found that physical activity was associated with longer life expectancy across different BMI categories.

One important takeaway?

Being at a “normal” weight does not automatically mean you are physically fit.

And being overweight does not mean physical activity is pointless.

Fitness is more than a number on the scale.

👉 Want to understand what the evidence actually says about body weight, physical activity and longevity?

Read the full explanation on our website.
Link on Bio

Address

Alpha Ortho Clinic , 265, Bussy Street
Pondichéri
605001

Telephone

+919003548023

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Dr Naveen Thiyagu Bashingam posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The School

Send a message to Dr Naveen Thiyagu Bashingam:

Shortcuts

Share

Category