Woman spends 500 days alone in a cave

IMAGINE living 70 metres underground for more than a year without any human contact. That's exactly what BEATRIZ FLAMINI from Spain did as part of a scientific experiment

- SUZAAN HALL

The 50-year-old extreme athlete spent many months alone in a pit while a team of psychologists, researchers, cave specialists and fitness experts monitored her above ground via video.

The aim of the study was to see how isolation and disorientation (not knowing where you are or whether it's day or night) affects people's brain patterns and sleep cycles.

When the experiment in Motril, Spain, ended in April it was the first time in 500 days that Beatriz saw sunlight.

Even though researchers installed a panic button in the cave, Beatriz never considered using it or going above ground. "I didn't want to come out" she says.