How do you deal with stress? In Nigeria, swinging a sledgehammer in a ‘rage room’ helps

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — How do you take care of stress?

In Lagos, Nigeria’s largest metropolis, persons are discovering their reset button in a “rage room” the place they pay to smash electronics and furnishings with a sledgehammer as a break from the worst cost-of-living disaster in a technology.

The Shadow Rage Room, apparently the primary of its form in Nigeria, affords “a secure area” for individuals to set free pent-up feelings, based on Dr. James Babajide Banjoko, the founder and a doctor. The concept, he stated, got here through the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 after he misplaced his mom and struggled with work.

For 7,500 naira ($5), clients are left alone with protecting gear and a sledgehammer or bat in a room for a 30-minute session with the objects which might be later recycled.

Instances are robust in Nigeria, a rustic of over 200 million individuals the place rising frustration amongst youths led to latest mass protests by which a number of individuals had been killed by safety forces. The inflation fee has reached a 28-year-high of 33.4%, whereas the naira forex has fallen to report lows in opposition to the greenback.

Psychological well being companies stay overseas or unaffordable for a lot of in Africa’s most populous nation, the place 40% of residents stay under $2 per day.

The West African nation has fewer than 400 registered psychologists, based on the Nigerian Affiliation of Medical Psychologists. Meaning one psychologist for about each half one million individuals.

Even when remedy is out there, stigma stays a problem, NACP president Gboyega Emmanuel Abikoye stated in an interview.

Rage rooms aren’t essentially new in different elements of the world. There isn’t any documented proof of their psychological well being advantages past the momentary reduction that comes with venting your emotions, Abikoye stated.

Consultants in Nigeria as a substitute see a rising want for extra long-term emotional assist, particularly amongst younger individuals.

In Lagos, an overcrowded metropolis of about 20 million individuals and a magnet for these looking for higher alternatives, such wants are much more pronounced. Each day stressors embrace site visitors jams infamous for trapping drivers and passengers on streets for hours in warmth and smog in one of many world’s most polluted cities.

Some Nigerians have turned to social media platforms like Tiktok as a means to deal with stress. Some discover assist in communities wherever they’ll, from the church or mosque to the gymnasium.

And now there’s the craze room, which opens on weekends and is often absolutely booked as much as two weeks forward, based on Banjoko, the founder.

On the finish of 1 session of smashing, Olaribigbe Akeem, a latest customer, got here out sweating however relieved and visibly completely happy.

“As a median Nigerian, you get to take care of rather a lot daily,” Akeem stated. “The anger has been piling up (and) as a substitute of venting on someone, that is the perfect avenue for me, and I really feel rather a lot renewed.”

Rage room guests additionally embrace {couples} who need to get one thing off their chest.

At instances, individuals are available for recreation however discover one thing extra.

“My favourite persons are people who … simply need to strive it, and on the finish of the day, you see them, they break down, they cry, they turn into very expressive,” Banjoko stated. He stated he typically refers them to remedy.

Dr. Maymunah Yusuf Kadiri, a Lagos-based psychiatrist, stated any profit from smashing issues is often short-lived and may’t be a substitute for remedy.

There may be additionally the danger of such a observe making somebody much less probably to make use of “wholesome coping methods,” she stated, and expressed concern that “repeated engagement … would possibly reinforce aggressive tendencies.”

On the rage room, some clients stated their issues really feel lighter solely till they go away and re-enter every day life.

However being weak with your self whereas inside, sledgehammer in hand, remains to be price it, stated Eka Stephanie Paul, an actor and TV host.

“Drawback no dey end anyway,” she stated within the pidgin broadly spoken throughout Nigeria, acknowledging that the craze room is hardly a treatment. “However proper now, I really feel very gentle.”

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Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria.

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