Unique places to relieve stress in Houston

PHOTOS: Houston's best stress relief spots

Tantrums

At At Tantrums , Houston's premiere "rage room," customers can rent a room full of breakable things and then trash it.﻿ PHOTOS: Houston's best stress relief spots

Tantrums

At At Tantrums , Houston's premiere "rage room," customers can rent a room full of breakable things and then trash it.﻿ Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff Image 1 of / 29 Caption Close Unique places to relieve stress in Houston 1 / 29 Back to Gallery

Check out the slideshow above for amazing ways to relieve stress in the Houston area right now...

From traffic and weather to jobs and homes, the city offers plenty of reasons for Houstonians to be stressed out. As a matter of fact, Harris County residents were experiencing serious psychological distress at levels rarely seen in the United States, according to an April survey conducted by the University of Texas School of Public Health at the end of 2017.

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But Houston offers some unique ways to deal the perils of living in the Bayou City.

According to the Mayo Clinic exercise can wipe away stress by upping endorphins. Concentrating on bodily movements will also distract the stressed from the things that are causing them frustrations. Mild depression and anxiety have also been proven to be lowered by physical activity.

The Houston answer to that is , of course, axes.

Wednesday, June 13th is International Axe Throwing Day and it also marks the first anniversary of Sharpstown's Houston Axe Throwing opening as the first indoor urban axe throwing location in Texas.

Co-owner Sarah Sed said that she's seeing more people come to her storefront to throw axes to extinguish daily stress. It's not unlike darts but with well, axes. It's easier than it looks once you get the hang of it.

Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff Sara Sed, owner of Houston Axe, said she's seeing more people...

"Our most common comment from people is, honestly, that it's satisfying to chop some wood," Sed said Tuesday. "A few of our league players will show up after they've finished a big project at work and tell me they've been looking forward to league all day or even all week to blow off some steam."

IT'S NOT JUST US: How Houston's stress levels compare to other Texas cities

Some Houstonians are opting out of their own daily reality and spending time in a virtual one.

"Stepping into another world of your choosing has always been the goal of entertainment, from books onto movies and now into the new immersive mediums we're seeing like virtual reality and augmented reality," David Haney with StudioVR Arcade in the Galleria-area said Tuesday.

His company is based in an office building suite and his clients pay a fee to come inside and explore virtual worlds via headsets. Some people take virtual boxing classes while others opt to shoot killer orcs with arrows in a medieval world.

HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Mental health experts encourage Houstonians to acknowledge emotions

For some guests stress seems to melt away after an hour or so somewhere else.

"I get a ton of folks that do express that they feel better afterwards, most likely due to the combination of light physical activity and the high levels of visual and auditory sensory stimulation," Haney said. "I know several people that do guided meditation and other stuff like that in VR specifically to decompress and de-stress," Haney added.

Haney tells Chron.com that just by doing VR exercises and eating better he's lost over 75 pounds this past year.

"We have a group that comes in and does VR fitness on Sundays and everyone involved is expressing how much better they feel after a session," Haney said. "The really cool thing about it all is you're so engaged with what you're doing in that world that you don't realize what a workout you're putting in until you've taken off the headset."

Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com.