[damien7579]

Agreed. Long morning showers have a profound effect on my ability to concentrate, meditate, think through problems and interestingly nearly 100% of my best ideas and solutions to problems come from the shower. Sometimes I have more than one shower a day to help work through tough problems (both personal, technical and business). I do live in a hot country and work from home so this is easier. If I don't have a shower to start the day I feel incomplete and a nagging feeling all day that something is not quite right!

I read all sorts of books to help unwind or enhance my existing knowledge or learn something new. Mixing genres of books each time is also good. I usually read scifi, fantasy (Terry Pratchett anyone?), biographies, history books,science/maths, technical, business... reading is one of mans greatest gifts!

Also, learn to do things like crosswords and jigsaws as a way to take your mind off things. Jigsaws are an amazing way to completely switch off - like stacking shelves without the significant labour! Mind wonders, but you also achieve something with each piece laid. Seriously dont knock it until you try :)

Exercise is critical. I swim 50+ laps in the pool each day and this really helps. But I hate exercise so you gotta find something that works for you.

And of course spending time with family - particularly children if you have them can be a real boon and gives you an excuse to play lego - anther wonderful invention of mankind! In fact I often build robots using technic lego with the kids which is a cool bridge between mechanical and computer skills.