This is the most important protein for women in menopause—and you’ve never even heard of it!

When I was going through my own health struggles, I often felt like I was throwing darts in the dark. Every diet, every supplement, every new “miracle” plan, I tried it all and nothing seemed to help me long-term.

But then something shifted.

As I started exploring how our bodies respond to light, seasons, and rhythms—things I’d never paid much attention to before—I stumbled on something truly mind-blowing. 

Something no one ever talks about. 

A single protein that connects nearly every aspect of your health, from energy and metabolism to stress and mood. This isn’t just some obscure molecule; it’s a biological switchboard at the very core of how we function.

That molecule is Proopiomelanocortin (POMC).

If you’ve never heard of POMC before, that’s okay. Most of us haven’t. But once you understand what it does, you’ll wonder how this protein has stayed under the radar. 

It’s tied to your body’s internal clock, hormone production, and even your cellular energy. When POMC is out of sync, so is everything else—your sleep, your metabolism, your mood, and your overall well-being.

For women in menopause, this becomes even more important! 

Hormonal shifts during perimenopause and menopause disrupt many of the systems POMC controls—leading to stubborn weight gain, restless nights, mood swings, and lower energy levels. 

When you understand how POMC works and how to support it, you unlock a superpower hidden within your own body that can change how you experience menopause completely. 

What REALLY is POMC?

Proopiomelanocortin (POMC) is a 241-amino-acid precursor polypeptide that acts as the raw material for a set of biologically crucial peptides. I know, sounds really scientific, but some things are not easy to express. We humans are VERY complex.

Once produced, POMC is cleaved into various bioactive molecules that control everything from stress adaptation to immune function, from skin pigmentation to pain relief, from hunger to hormonal balance.

For women in menopause, these effects are especially impactful:

• Stress and Mood: As estrogen and progesterone fluctuate, mood swings and anxiety become more common. POMC helps regulate the production of hormones like cortisol and peptides like β-endorphins, which influence mood stability and stress resilience.

• Metabolism and Weight: Many women notice increased abdominal fat and a slower metabolism during menopause. POMC-derived peptides like α-MSH and CLIP are central to appetite control, fat burning, and metabolic balance.

• Sleep and Energy: POMC is closely linked to circadian rhythms. When disrupted by hormonal changes, women experience poor sleep, daytime fatigue, and increased cravings—all of which POMC can help regulate.

How POMC Affects Menopause Symptoms

1. Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (ACTH): The Stress Modulator
ACTH triggers cortisol production, which is critical for managing stress and circadian wakefulness. During menopause, when stress feels overwhelming and sleep is disrupted, ACTH’s role becomes even more important. Optimizing light exposure and timing can help reset this cycle, reducing the impact of high cortisol and chronic fatigue.

2. Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormones (MSH): The Metabolic Regulators
MSH peptides influence fat metabolism, mood, and immune function. During menopause, many women struggle with stubborn weight gain and low energy. Activating MSH through UV exposure, circadian-aligned eating, and nutrient support can help restore balance, making it easier to lose weight and feel energized.

3. β-Endorphin: The Mood Booster
Low β-endorphin levels can worsen the emotional rollercoaster of menopause. Sunlight, infrared therapy, and cold exposure naturally elevate β-endorphin, improving mood, reducing stress, and helping women feel more resilient.

4. CLIP: The Metabolic Stabilizer
CLIP plays a key role in blood sugar balance and insulin sensitivity—both of which often become disrupted during menopause. By aligning circadian rhythms and reducing processed food intake, women can support CLIP activity, improving metabolic health and helping to counteract midlife weight gain.

During menopause, women’s circadian rhythms are often disrupted. Hot flashes, night sweats, and hormonal imbalances throw off natural light cycles. 

Oil painting by Annika Connor "Study of Insomnia"

POMC biology is heavily influenced by light exposure, and getting it right can make all the difference:

Morning Sunlight:

• Waking up with natural light triggers ACTH and sets the tone for healthy cortisol levels throughout the day. This helps prevent the afternoon crashes and cravings that many menopausal women experience.

Midday UV Exposure:

• Sunlight boosts α-MSH and β-endorphin, improving mood, energy, and fat metabolism. These light-activated peptides can help women feel more balanced and in control.

Reducing Artificial Light at Night:

• Blue light from screens disrupts POMC activity, leading to higher cortisol, disrupted sleep, and worsened hormone symptoms. Switching to red light or dim light in the evenings helps maintain healthy circadian rhythms and hormone regulation.

Now that you know about POMC,  I´ll show you how the conventional menopause treatments are actually making things worse!

Let’s get something straight: Menopause is not a disease.

But if you walk into a doctor’s office, you’d think it was.

For decades, women have been sold the idea that menopause is a hormonal failure—that the only solution is external hormones, pills, and endless interventions. 

And yet, despite millions of women taking HRT, rates of weight gain, chronic fatigue, insomnia, and hormone-related diseases are worse than ever.

So what’s going wrong?

The problem isn’t that your body is running out of hormones—the problem is that your environment is completely mismatched with your biology. 

And the mainstream solutions? They’re only making things worse.

We’ve been conditioned to believe that estrogen declines = menopause suffering and that the answer is to replace what’s “missing.” 

But this is a completely outdated, one-size-fits-all approach that ignores the real reason women struggle through menopause.

The truth is, hormonal shifts are a natural part of aging. 

What’s not natural? The modern environment that speeds up mitochondrial aging, disrupts circadian rhythms, and causes hormone chaos in the first place.

HRT is just a band-aid over a much bigger issue. And that issue is broken light exposure, metabolic dysfunction, and a completely disconnected lifestyle.

The problem isn’t just that HRT doesn’t fix the root cause—it actually makes things worse in the long run by:

Shutting down your body’s natural hormone feedback loops → Making you dependent on external hormones instead of repairing what’s broken.

Disrupting POMC → Leading to leptin resistance, increased fat storage, and even higher stress hormones.

Altering melatonin production → Making sleep worse, aging mitochondria faster, and increasing the risk of diseases linked to circadian dysfunction. And trust me, there are plenty of those!

HRT completely overrides these natural processes, forcing your body into a state of artificial balance that can collapse the moment you stop taking it.

HRT hijacks your natural POMC system by bypassing the body’s built-in regulatory pathways. Instead of helping you produce energy efficiently, it suppresses natural hormone cycles, making mitochondria even weaker over time.

The more synthetic hormones you take, the less your body can regulate itself.

This is why women on HRT often struggle with even MORE weight gain, anxiety, and metabolic dysfunction when they try to wean off. Their body never learned how to regulate naturally.

The Circadian Body Fix

IF you´re a woman in perimenopause or menopause and expiereince heavy symptoms you don’t have a hormone problem—you have a light, environment, and metabolism problem. 

And when you fix those, your body starts producing what it needs, when it needs it, naturally.

✅ Fix Your Light Exposure → Get morning sun, avoid blue light at night, and use red light therapy to restore circadian rhythms.

✅ Eat in Alignment with Your Biology → Seasonal eating regulates leptin, improves metabolic function, and reduces inflammation.

✅ Cold Exposure & Grounding → These natural tools activate POMC, boost endorphins, and improve mitochondrial health better than any synthetic hormone.

✅ Support Mitochondria, Not Just Hormones → Your ability to produce energy dictates how well you age—not how much estrogen is in your bloodstream.

HRT isn’t fixing the root cause of menopause struggles—it’s just silencing the symptoms. The real solution isn’t in a prescription bottle. It’s in how you live, how you eat, and how you interact with the natural world.

If you’re tired of feeling stuck in your body, watching the weight creep up, and getting no real answers from your doctor…

Book a FREE 15-minute menopause consultation, and let’s create a plan that works with your body, not against it.

Click here to book your call now.