2nd International Conference on Sleep Disorders, Medicine & Integrative Medicine November 28-30, 2016 Atlanta, USA

Traditional medicine is "the sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness. Traditional medicine comprises knowledge systems that developed over generations within various societies before the era of modern medicine.

Complementary medicine is treatments that are used along with standard medical treatments but are not considered to be standard treatments. One example is using acupuncture to help lessen some side effects of cancer treatment.

Alternative medicine is treatments that are used instead of standard medical treatments. It consists of a wide variety of health care practices, products and therapies, ranging from being biologically plausible but not well tested, to being directly contradicted by evidence and science, or even harmful or toxic.

Functional medicine is a form of alternative medicine which proponents say focuses on interactions between the environment and the gastrointestinal, endocrine, and immune systems. Practitioners attempt to develop individual treatment plans for people they treat. Functional medicine encompasses a number of unproven and disproven methods and treatments, and has been criticized for being pseudoscientific.

Lifestyle Medicine is a branch of medicine dealing with research, prevention and treatment of disorders caused by lifestyle factors such as nutrition, physical inactivity, and chronic stress. The leading causes of mortality and healthcare costs worldwide are chronic diseases, resulting from lifestyle and environmental factors. 

Naturopathic medicine is a distinct primary health care profession, emphasizing prevention, treatment, and optimal health through the use of therapeutic methods and substances that encourage individuals’ inherent self-healing process.  The practice of naturopathic medicine includes modern and traditional, scientific, and empirical methods.

Personalized medicine is a medical procedure that separates patients into different groups—with medical decisions, practices, interventions and/or products being tailored to the individual patient based on their predicted response or risk of disease. 

Holistic medicine is the art and science of healing that addresses the whole person – body, mind, and spirit. The practice of holistic medicine integrates conventional and alternative therapies to prevent and treat disease, and most importantly, to promote optimal health. This condition of holistic health is defined as the unlimited and unimpeded free flow of life force energy through body, mind, and spirit.

Translational Medicine is an interdisciplinary branch of the biomedical field supported by three main pillars: benchside, bedside and community. The goal of TM is to combine disciplines, resources, expertise, and techniques within these pillars to promote enhancements in prevention, diagnosis, and therapies. 

Nutrition is the science that interprets the interaction of nutrients and other substances in food (e.g. phytonutrients, anthocyanin, tannins, etc.) in relation to maintenance, growth, reproduction, health and disease of an organism. The study   Nutrition is increasingly concerned with Metabolism and Metabolic pathways, the sequence of biochemical steps through which substances in living things change from one form to another. 

Nutraceuticals is a broad umbrella term that is used to describe any product derived from food sources with extra health benefits in addition to the basic nutritional value found in foods. They can be considered non-specific biological therapies used to promote general well-being, control symptoms and prevent malignant processes. 

Chronic diseases are long-term diseases that are not contagious and largely preventable. They include diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, osteoporosis, and dental diseases and present a growing burden for society. As chronic diseases are largely preventable, a global strategy on diet, physical activity and health is needed.

Nutrigenomics, is the study of how foods affect our genes and how individual genetic differences can affect the way we respond to nutrients (and other naturally occurring compounds) in the foods we eat. Nutrigenomics has received much attention recently because of its potential for preventing, mitigating, or treating chronic disease, and certain cancers, through small but highly informative dietary changes.

Herbal medicine, also called botanical medicine or phytomedicine, refers to using a plant's seeds, berries, roots, leaves, bark, or flowers for medicinal purposes. Herbalism has a long tradition of use outside conventional medicine. It is becoming more mainstream as improvements in analysis and quality control, along with advances in clinical research, show the value of herbal medicine in treating and preventing disease. 

These are the treatments that is widely accepted and used by most healthcare professionals. Conventional therapies are constantly evolving, with developments in science and technology, to improve effectiveness while diminishing harmful side effects. Clinical trials open the door to explore previously unavailable treatment options.

Mind-body therapies are therapies that use the body to affect the mind, such as yoga, tai chi, qigong, and some types of dance (these are sometimes called body-mind therapies). Ultimately mind-body and body-mind therapies are interrelated: the body affects the mind, which in turn impacts the body (and the mind).