Exercising at your desk won’t make you an athlete, but it might keep you alive, experts say.

“If your goal is to get protection from ‘all-cause mortality,’ it’s fine,” says Ethel Frese, associate professor of physical therapy with St. Louis University.

All-cause mortality is death from lifestyle diseases – heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, certain cancers – diseases that can be prevented by eating right and exercising.

“It’s different from someone who wants fitness like an athlete might,” she says. “A lot of people have the idea that you have to be a runner or a serious biker; you really don’t. The intensity level of an activity can be much less than people think.”

The best results, says Frese, come from a 10-20 minute walk during lunch, using the stairs and not the elevator, walking to deliver a message rather than using e-mail or the phone, parking farther away from your office rather than closer – anything that accumulates movement over the workday.

“If I just want some protection from diseases … then the general recommendation is to get about 1,000 (extra) calories of activities a week,” she says.

But when long walks aren’t possible, you can still get your blood moving with some moves at your desk.

One example: “I recommend standing up, then sitting down slowly in your chair,” Frese says.