50-Year-Old Woman Loses All Concept of Time While Inside 230-Foot Deep Cave for 500 Days

(Photo: Pexels/Jeremy Bishop)
50-Year-Old Woman Loses All Concept of Time While Inside 230-Foot Deep Cave for 500 Days

A female athlete is back in the outside world after living in a deep cave in the mountains of Spain without sunlight and contact.

Woman Loses Concept of Time

The 50-year-old Spanish mountaineer Beatriz Flamini underwent a 500-day challenge, perhaps setting a world record while residing 230 feet below from Nov. 20, 2021, to April 14, 2023, Newsweek reported.

She knit, painted, and exercised while passing the time. She was able to read 60 novels while she was underground. Over time, she had lost any sense of time but captured her experience on two GoPro cameras.

She told Reuters she stopped counting after 65 days and "lost perception of time."

Flamini was monitored as part of a study investigating how the human brain and circadian rhythms are affected by social isolation, lack of touch, loss of the day-night cycle, and other factors.

Circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles of bodily and behavioral changes. These patterns, which include feeling sleepy at night and hungry during mealtimes, are reportedly regulated by a "master clock" in the brain and can impact body temperature, according to the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The suprachiasmatic nucleus, a group of about 20,000 neurons, is the vertebrate equivalent of this central timepiece.

Our circadian rhythms are out of sync with the time of day, so we experience jet lag when we fly to another part of the world.

Since Flamini spent so much time in a cave without access to natural light, scientists have a unique opportunity to examine how the brain adjusts. In the end, she appeared to handle the situation extremely well.

What Did Flamini Say About Living in a Cave

Flamini was being honest after emerging from the cave, and according to her, she didn't feel anything. When she saw the light, it made her feel no difference because it felt like she had just gone in there, so she didn't have that sensation of missing the light, the sun, and all that was in the outside world.

ALSO READ: Oura Will Add Sleep Profiles to Its Smart Ring To Help Users Understand Their Circadian Rhythms

This rule of no communication also extended to global events and personal tragedies. Flamini had no contact with anyone other than her support crew, who delivered her fresh food and clothes and retrieved her waste "every five poos." She wasn't aware of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and didn't hear about the death of a family member.

According to her, regardless of the situation, if there is no communication, there is no communication. People who know her well understand and value that.

New Guinness World Record?

Thirty-three miners from Chile and Bolivia presently hold the Guinness World Record for the "longest time survived trapped underground," after having spent 69 days imprisoned in 2010 at a depth of 2,257 feet. Flamini's cave stay broke that record. However, Guinness has not yet verified whether there was a separate record for those who volunteer to live in a cave.

According to Reuters, a Guinness representative could not confirm whether or not Flamini had broken the record for the longest time spent willingly inside a cave.

A Guinness World Records representative responded to Newsweek's email saying they are investigating it with their specialist consultants. Newsweek has also emailed the scientists researching Flamini.

RELATED ARTICLE: How Do 7 to 9 Hours of Sleep Help Improve Mental Health?

Check out more news and information on Sleep in Science Times.