Try This Drink Before Bed To Stop Late Night Cravings & Support Digestion (Among Other Benefits)

It's getting close to bedtime, but your stomach hasn't gotten the memo. All you can think about is having something to eat. But maybe all you need is a sip of a basic beverage to curb late-night belly growls, promote digestion, and provide more appetizing benefits.

Clove water is as easy to make as the name implies. Just steep about a teaspoon of whole dried cloves in two cups of hot water for 10 minutes. Strain out the cloves, and it's ready to support your gut. (Read about other spices that will elevate your gut health.)

According to Dr. Eric Berg on Instagram, the eugenol in cloves promotes relaxation. He explained that eugenol "can act as a natural sedative, relaxing the nervous system." There seems to be a direct correlation between nighttime relaxation and improved sleep. Thus, if clove water makes you sleepy, you may be more apt to head to your bed, not to the fridge.

Even if you're still hungry despite having "heavy" eyelids, clove water may curb your appetite in another way: Cloves are surprisingly high in the mineral manganese, offering 55% of the daily recommended value for adults in one teaspoon. An additional benefit of sufficient manganese is improved blood sugar stabilization. (Though they may sound similar, there are key differences between magnesium and manganese, particularly in how they benefit the body.)

When your blood sugar is at normal levels, you may be able to avoid intense cravings. As your blood sugar spikes, your body starts to want more sugar. If clove water can keep your blood sugar at desirable levels, you may be able to skip your midnight snack. In fact, you could incorporate clove water into your diet regularly to make a larger splash on your blood sugar. A 2019 study in BMC Complementary Therapies and Medicine found that after taking clove extract for 30 days, participants with type 2 diabetes experienced less of a post-meal sugar spike than before they took the extract.

Clove water may also have a direct effect on your ability to digest the food already in your tummy. The active component in clove oil, eugenol, has historically been used by those who are nauseated or are having gastrointestinal distress (per LiverTox). 

Although there is a lack of studies that prove a conclusive relationship between cloves (or eugenol) and digestive support, experts say that modest "therapeutic" amounts of clove oil aren't toxic. Therefore, you may want to try clove water if you feel a lot of stomach upset at night.

If you have a stomach ulcer that's keeping you awake, the eugenol in clove water may also help. A 2021 article from the Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology highlighted the possible use of clove oil in lieu of other treatments for peptic ulcers. In test tube trials, clove oil seemed to protect stomach tissue samples against some bacteria strains associated with ulcer development.