Disconnecting from work

Disconnected color
Originally uploaded by Leonid Mamchenkov

Over the last 6 months, I've been increasingly stressed at work and in life in general. Chatting to a number of people, I think one of the causes is my ability to disconnect from work when I go home. I've got a good job, and the expectations are that I won't take work home (not sure how I'd survive if I needed to do that), although the general work environment at the moment is pretty intense.

My task for the next couple of weeks is to figure out how I can better disconnect from work. Some thoughts that I'm thinking might help:

• Walk to and / or from work - it's been raining for the last week, so this hasn't been possible, but I have found it just a good time to get a bit of space between work and home
• Get into a regular routine of exercise at night - expending some energy is a good thing to do, and probably means that I sleep better 
• Go on a holiday

As an information worker, I think it's hard to disconnect - if only I could leave my work brain at the door!

What techniques do you find help you to disconnect from work, and keep stress levels at a maintainable level?