Some of Spain’s most stressed citizens will release their pent-up frustration today by destroying a hotel in Madrid using sledgehammers and pickaxes.

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

The hotel, owned by the NH chain, is due to be refurbished this summer.

The amateur demolition team was picked from more than 200 applicants by a panel of psychologists who deemed them 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 GarcÍa, one of the psychologists who selected the overburdened Spaniards, said that the physical effort expended would “release endorphins, reducing the tension in the organism”.

Ms GarcÍa said that the demolition would “demonstrate the liberating effect of adrenalin and physical activity”, while highlighting the growing problem of stress which, she said, affected 30 per cent of Spaniards.

Applicants had to fill out a questionnaire to determine the pressure they faced at work, the difficulty of their domestic arrangements or their burden of debt. It asked whether applicants were overworked, moving house, facing exams, or plagued by “an undesired person in the home, such as an aunt or mother-in-law”.

Those who scored highly underwent a psychological test to determine the exact level of pressure they were under, and a medical check-up to ensure they were in good enough shape to take part. The hotel chain has dubbed its new service “deroombing”, a play on the Spanish verb derrumbar – to demolish. The winners will also get a free night and dinner at the hotel in September, after it has been refurbished.

A survey by the Spanish Ministry of Labour found that professional workers and businessmen suffered from the greatest amount of stress. On a scale of 0 to 10, their stress levels were measured at 6.7, compared with a national average of 5.6. Those working in a family business were the least stressed, with a score of 5.

Those between the ages of 30 and 54 were found to be the most stressed, with a score of 5.9, while young people were the least stressed at a relaxed 4.6. Women also suffer more stress than men, with an average score of 5.8 compared with men’s 5.5.

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