Stephanie Davies saves the life of Allie Young during the Aurora theater shooting. Photo courtesy of wptv.com

Two friends, Stephanie Davies, 21 and Allie Young, 18, had the misfortune of attending the midnight showing of the new Batman film in Aurora, CO last week. Like others, they were stunned when a madman stepped out of the crowd and began firing into the audience. What happened next is a true example of heroism.

Young was hit in the neck by two of the gunman’s bullets. With blood spurting from her wound, she told Davies to leave. Davies, however did no such thing, instead, she applied pressure to her friend’s wound and stayed with her. With one hand on the wound, she used her free hand to call 911.

While we’ve heard lots of stories of men stepping up, even paying the ultimate sacrifice to protect their girlfriends, wives and women protecting their families, it is not often we hear of such acts of bravery from female friends.

Davies put her own life in jeopardy to stay with her friend when she could have saved herself. It demonstrates the powerful bond of friendship and the depth of caring these two women shared.

Once the women were able to leave the theater, Davies continued her heroic efforts, carrying he friend across two parking lots to reach an ambulance.

In a speech President Obama gave after visiting the survivors of the shooting, he cited Davies heroism and credited her with saving her friends life, saying he would not have been able to speak with Young had it not been for Davies actions.

Young says the fact that Davies stayed with her and saved her life when her carotid artery exploded is very emotional for her, something she’ll carry with her the rest of her life.

ADHD Drugs Do Not Increase Heart Disease Risk

A study released this week showed fairly conclusive evidence that indicates that ADHD medication does not actually increase risk for heart disease in adults. Previously some doctors believed that ADD and ADHD medicines increased risk for heart disease but the good news is that this study essentially proves that to be not true.

The study was conducted using nearly 500,000 adults ranging in age from 25 to 65 so the sample size of this study is very large. The study also covered nearly all of the currently used medications to ensure that all of them were included in the study.

It is good news for millions of adults in America and around the world that are affected by ADD and ADHD as they now know that the medication they’re taking daily does not have any heart disease risk associated with it. Of course there are still other side effects but the fact that those taking ADD and ADHD medications have absolutely on higher risk for heart trouble is definitely great news for everyone. Many doctors say this will greatly impact their likeliness to prescribe certain medications to older patients as the finally know that there is no link between the medicine and heart trouble. Previous studies had shown essentially the same thing but this is the first of its kind to include so many medications and so many patients spreading such a variety of demographics and ages.

Daily Coffee Consumption Lowers Cancer Risk

Researchers released a study today which shows that coffee may have more health benefits than previously thought. Doctors already knew that moderate coffee consumption was beneficial in multiple ways but this latest study shows that it can even help reduce your risk for skin cancer. According to researchers nearly 1 million Americans get basal cell carcinoma every year and apparently a moderate and consistent coffee consumption routine can help reduce this risk.

Amazingly the research also confirmed that there is not a specific point at which the effect becomes less noticeable; more coffee consumption apparently means more protection from skin cancer, the protection seems to just continue to increase with consumption. Unfortunately coffee did not have an effect on the other prominent types of skin cancer but it is still promising that there is an effect at all.

The study was conducted using an incredibly large sample size and doctors say that the results are definitely solid. The exact reason for coffee seems to reduce or eliminate the risk for specific types of skin cancer are completely unknown, of course there are follow up studies planned that will likely pinpoint exactly what in coffee is helping eliminate the risk. For now doctors are continuing to encourage patients to consume coffee in moderate amounts simply because the number of health benefits linked to coffee and continuously growing as more and more are being discovered through extensive research and testing around the world.

Chocolate Linked to Reduced Stroke Risk

For quite some time scientists and researchers have believed that consuming chocolate in moderate amounts helps in various medical ways; today a report was released that continues to confirm this idea. Chocolate consumption in women has successfully and consistently been linked to a reduced risk for stroke; which is clearly a good thing as it have a significant impact when combined with other risk reducing behaviors and lifestyle changes.

According to the Swedish research crew it wasn’t important what type of chocolate women consumed and neither was the volume. Chocolate in large or incredible small portions had a noticeable impact on the risk for stroke in women of all ages and from all nationalities and with all sorts of family history of medical problems.

Fortunately this time the researchers also looked deeper into the results to find out what exactly was causing the reduction in risk. Women who had consumed chocolate consistently were significantly less likely to have bouts of bleeding in the brain which would frequently lead to major strokes. Overall researchers say that consuming chocolate on a regular and consistent basis will in fact help reduce women’s risk for stroke through a variety of processes involving numerous healthy and helpful chemicals found in chocolate. This is simply great news for the millions of women that already enjoy chocolate for a number of reasons; while consumed in moderation chocolate is in fact a healthy and delicious treat that many doctors do in fact encourage patients to consume.