We are always told to take care of our bodies through healthy eating and exercise but what about our minds? What should we be doing to care of our mental well-being? May is Mental Health Awareness month, so there is no better time to pause and take some time out to look after your mental wellbeing.
Feelings of stress, frustration, anger and grief affect us all, and in some people’s cases on a daily basis. Whether you’re stressed out with work, going through a messy and painful break-up or divorce, or grieving the loss of a loved one or just trying to get through the week, we all need to take care of our mental health.
Some people like to meditate to de-stress, or do yoga, go for a walk, or even do a hardcore exercise class, but for some that does not quite hit the spot. Sometimes all you really want to do is break something. Destroy something. Smash it into pieces and get rid of all that pent-up emotion…
Enter The Smash Room, the only safe space in the UAE where you can come in and smash anything and everything in sight. Studies suggest that for some people breaking and smashing things can help increase the production of endorphins, which in turn helps with releasing stress and anger.
Resha Erheim, a Canadian certified mental health counselor based in Dubai says, “it is often true that breaking and smashing things help release anger and stress just like yelling to self or punching a pillow especially in cases when anger and stress are suppressed and cannot be released. The Smash Room can be a way to use this strategy safely and in a controlled setting”.
The Smash Room was first started when the Co-Founder, Hiba Balfaqih, struggled to find the right outlet for her grief after her grandmother passed away. Having tried everything she could think of to manage her grief, she realized all she wanted to do was go outside and smash up some stuff, which she did. She realized that other people too might be feeling the same way that she did, and appreciate having somewhere they could go to vent out feelings in a way they might not have previously considered before.
For more information, please visit www.thesmashroom.ae.