If you're exercising to the point that you're out of breath, you're doing yourself a huge favor.  They've increased the amount of cardio we should be getting each week, and this number alone is enough to knock the wind out of us.  

Getting winded is a good thing.

And on the flip side, if you're sitting in the recliner a lot, relaxed and breathing peacefully, that's great during football and movies, but it's not that great for health long term.

The American Cancer Society is doubling the recommended dose of exercise needed to prevent cancer, saying now that we need to get 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week or 75-150 minutes of vigorous physical activity.  When the last recommendation came out in 2012, it was about half of that.

Three hundred minutes amounts to five hours, so that's only an hour a day each weekday.  If you're going to the gym for two hours at a time, you're way ahead of the game.

The Today Show breaks it down this way.

--  Moderate-intensity exercise includes brisk walking, heavy housework, and gardening, or yoga, and Pilates.

--  Vigorous-intensity exercise includes running, fast bicycling, and other activities that leave us out of breath.

When I'm working out I always pay attention to how well I can carry on a conversation.  If I can tell a long story about my non-existent dating life, not only does it distract me from the task at hand, but it's also a clue that I'm not working hard enough and I'll ramp up the speed until I'm out of breath and can't talk anymore. Exercise is therapeutic in so many ways.  

And now we've got more incentive to hit it a little harder.