It is important to (1)________ a healthy lifestyle to maintain good physical and mental well-being. Regular (2)________ helps improve cardiovascular health and boosts the immune system. Eating a balanced diet rich in (3)________ vitamins and minerals is crucial for overall health. Additionally, (4)________ stress through activities like yoga or meditation can enhance mental clarity. Getting an adequate amount of (5)________ each night is essential for restorative activity and optimum bodily functions.

Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 4.

The correct option to fill in blank number 4 is "managing".

Let's analyze the sentence structure containing blank (4):
"Additionally, (4)________ stress through activities like yoga or meditation can enhance mental clarity."

In this sentence, the phrase starting with blank (4) and ending with "meditation" serves as the subject of the verb phrase "can enhance".
To function as the subject of the sentence, we need a noun or a noun phrase. A gerund (the "-ing" form of a verb acting as a noun) is appropriate here to represent the action of handling or controlling stress.
Let's check the given options:

• managing (Gerund/Present Participle) - Fits grammatically as the head of the gerund phrase "managing stress".
• manages (Third-person singular present verb) - Cannot act as the subject of the sentence.
• management (Noun) - While "management" is a noun, the construction "management stress through activities..." is grammatically incorrect because a noun cannot directly take "stress" as a direct object without a preposition like "of" (e.g., "management of stress").
• managed (Past tense/past participle verb) - Cannot act as the subject in this active context.