As the amount of stress an individual faces on a daily basis increases, their ability to remain healthy and fight disease decreases. Allowing stress to run your life can ruin your life with such health issues as an increased susceptibility to colds and flu to more life threatening health conditions such as stroke and heart attack. Implementing a stress relief plan is vital to ongoing good health as well as helping to improve mood, increase productivity and longevity, in addition to boosting immune system function.

Meditation, regular exercise, a well-balanced diet and getting quality sleep every evening are just some of the effective ways to achieve stress relief on a daily basis. It's also important to ensure that the daily dietary intake includes a sufficient amount of vitamins, minerals and nutrients that help the body relax and be able to handle whatever stressful circumstances need to be confronted and managed.

A combination of calcium and magnesium makes a potent combination of minerals that help to ease anxiety and create a calm mental state of mind while helping the muscles to feel relaxed in order to facilitate rest as well as quality sleep. B Vitamins are the first to become depleted in the body experiencing chronic stress, so adequate supplies of Vitamin B2 and B6 are essential.

Omega-3 fatty acids act as anti-inflammatory agents that relieve the aches and pains often associated with stress. Theanine is beneficial for calming the mind and relieving anxiety, while phosphatidyl serine and taurine help to increase dopamine in the brain, helping the central nervous system to relax. Adaptogens such as rhodiola and Indian Ginseng, also called ashwaghanda, are herbs that help increase the body's natural resistance to stress by reducing the amount of stress hormones produced by the adrenal glands.