Stress-busters!

Stressed out Spaniards have been relieving tension by using sledgehammers and pickaxes to destroy a Madrid hotel.



For two hours, 30 members of the public were allowed to run wild on an entire floor of the hotel.
They were encouraged to smash windows, pulverise baths, tear down curtains and raze the reception area.

The amateur demolition team was picked from more than 200 applicants by a panel of psychologists.
The winners were deemed to be suffering from an unusually high level of anxiety, pressure or nervous tension.

They include corporate executives, young people on low salaries, couples preparing for their wedding day and a working mother with young children who said that she desperately needed to "hit something".

Laura Garcia, one of the psychologists who selected the overburdened Spaniards, said that the physical effort expended would "release endorphins, reducing the tension in the organism".

The hotel, owned by the NH chain, is due to be refurbished this summer, reports The Times.
The winners will also get a free night and dinner at the hotel in September, after it has been refurbished.