Alan Alda reveals he has Parkinson's

Alan Alda, the veteran actor and six-time Emmy award-winner, announced Tuesday that he has Parkinson's disease.

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Alda -- who starred in the long-running series "M.A.S.H." as beloved combat doctor Hawkeye Pierce -- said in an interview on "CBS This Morning" that he was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2015.

I was diagnosed three-and-a-half years ago and I've had a full life since then," the 82-year-old Alda said. "I've acted, I've given talks, I help at the Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook, I've started this new podcast."

He said he's had hardly any symptoms other than noticing "my thumb twitch."

"I thought it's probably only a matter of time before somebody does a story about this from a sad ... point of view, which is not where I am," Alda said

Parkinson’s is a long-term, neurodegenerative disease that results in movement-related problems, commonly referred to as "motor" functions. Symptoms can include impaired balance and coordination, slurred speech and difficulty walking.

Alda said he has none of the more severe symptoms many people diagnosed with the disease are coping with daily.

"I'm taking boxing lessons three times a week, I do singles tennis a couple of times a week," Alda said. "I march to [John Philip] Sousa music because marching to march music is good for Parkinson's."

(MORE: Even a mild head injury increases risk for Parkinson's disease, veterans study shows)

Alda said he also decided to get checked for Parkinson's after reading a health column by Jane Brody in The New York Times that said acting out dreams could be an early symptom of the disease that affects more than 1 million Americans.

(MORE: After Neil Diamond's Parkinson's diagnosis, here's what you need to know about the disease)

"By acting out your dreams, I mean, I was having a dream that someone was attacking me and I threw a sack of potatoes at them," Alda said. "What I was really doing was throwing a pillow at my wife."