Dance eases depression symptoms in Parkinson's patients, new study suggests

Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel discusses the importance of improving gut health and how increased cell phone use is linked to increased risk of heart disease. Putting a swing in their step could be just the thing to help ease the symptoms of depression in some Parkinson's patients, a new study suggests. Patients who took months of dance classes found their depression eased, a small study published recently in the Journal of Medical Internet Research says. Not only did depression symptoms ease for the Parkinson's patients, their brain scans displayed changes in their brain areas related to mood, researchers said. PARKINSON'S DISEASE RISK IS LINKED TO GUT HEALTH, RESEARCHERS SAY "It was very cool to see that dance had a positive effect on the mood circuits in the brain, which we could see in the imaging," senior researcher Joseph DeSouza, an associate professor of neuroscience at York University in Toronto, Canada, said in a university news release.