What Are the 13 Benefits of Drinking Lemon-Ginger Tea Before Bed?

Medically Reviewed on 8/24/2022
13 Benefits of Drinking Lemon-Ginger Tea
Apart from getting a good night’s sleep, lemon-ginger tea offers numerous health benefits before bedtime.

The most common problem we can see in today's generation is difficulty sleeping or staying awake during the nighttime. Certain dietary choices can either help or disrupt your sleep. Drinking tea before bed, such as lemon-ginger tea, may help you get a good night’s rest.

Lemon-Ginger tea is an herbal tonic that can be soothing, helping you not only sleep well but also feel warm, calm down, and relaxed because of the fresh lime and natural sweetener honey in the recipe.

Here are a few ways to include lemon-ginger tea in your bedtime routine:

  • Ginger is used in various forms such as fresh, dried, pickled, and grounded.
  • Lemons are widely used in sour flavors and are rich in vitamin C and antioxidants.
  • They are used mainly for flavoring and as main ingredients. 
  • The bitterness of ginger and sourness of lemon together with honey gives a strong sharp flavor with various health benefits.

13 benefits of drinking lemon-ginger tea

Thirteen benefits of drinking lemon-ginger tea include:

  1. Soothes indigestion:
    • In case of chronic indigestion, ginger helps alleviate delayed indigestion or emptying of the stomach.
    • Limonene present in lemon helps in digestion by the smooth flow of food in the digestive tract.
    • Ginger and lemon together before going to bed help calm your digestive system.
    • A warm cup of lemon-ginger tea before bed will relieve you from constipation.
  2. Treats nausea and vomiting:
    • Gingerol present in ginger helps treat nausea during pregnancy and chemotherapy and other different situations.
    • Adding 1 to 1.5 grams of ginger to a regular diet will act as an anti-nausea effect.
    • However, there are mixed studies regarding the anti-nausea effect of ginger during pregnancy and chemotherapy.
    • In a study involving five pregnant mothers, three showed an anti-nausea effect when ginger is given, and two did not show any effect.
    • Although not harmful when taken in a limited amount, it is advisable to take a physician's opinion before including ginger into your diet during pregnancy.
    • Other studies report that ginger has an anti-nausea effect but very less anti-vomiting effect.
  3. Helps in weight loss:
    • Ginger increases satiety and reduces hunger pangs.
    • Lemon increases insulin resistance and reduces the level of fat in the body.
    • Lemon-ginger tea helps increase your metabolism and helps you stay fit and trim. 
  4. Boosts immunity:
    • Lemon is rich in vitamin C and antioxidants, which together boost your immune system.
    • If you are prone to several infections, start including ginger-lemon tea in your diet.
    • Gingerol, a compound present in ginger, has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that reduce infections and relieve pain and pain-associated conditions such as arthritis.
  5. May lower heart disease risk:
    • A simple herbal tonic of lemon-ginger tea taken as a daily routine may lower the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
    • Lemon rich in vitamin C helps increase the blood flow in the arteries and veins, thus helping prevent heart attacks and other heart conditions.
    • Ginger is rich in antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, and anti-platelet activity, and has the hypolipidemic effect that helps lower cardiovascular risks.
    • Ginger enhances blood circulation and keeps your heart healthy.
  6. Keeps you hydrated:
    • Lemon-ginger tea helps you stay hydrated because it is taken along with water.
    • If you are well hydrated, your vital organs such as the kidneys, heart, and gut stay healthy and functioning properly.
  7. Prevents stuffy nose:
    • Steam from warm lemon-ginger tea helps open up the nose and prevent nasal congestion.
    • Drinking warm liquids will help you stay warm in winter and help you from a sore throat.
    • Lemon-ginger tea will not cure the problem permanently but will give you temporary relief by opening the nose.
    • It may provide some relief in case of sinusitis and any breathing problems caused by nasal congestion by loosening the mucus in the nose.
  8. Helps maintain healthy skin:
    • Lemon-ginger tea is rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, which help maintain healthy skin. Antibacterial properties in ginger help fight against any skin infections.
  9. Dental care:
    • Ginger is rich in antibacterial properties, which help prevent plaque accumulation over the teeth and margins of the gums that leads to inflammation of the gums.
    • This helps maintain healthy gums and teeth.
    • Some studies suggest that ginger may help lower the risk of gum diseases, gingivitis, and oral cancer.
  10. Helps in ovarian cysts:
    • Both ginger and lemon have anti-inflammatory and healing properties that may reduce the risk of ovarian cysts.
    • Lemon-ginger tea may naturally help shrink ovarian cysts.
  11. Improves concentration and regulates mood swings:
    • Ginger can boost brain power and thus helps improve concentration.
    • Ginger may provide cognitive benefits. However, there is a lack of proper evidence.
  12. Promotes hair growth:
    • Ginger helps increase blood circulation in the scalp and thus promotes hair growth.
    • Ginger is rich in vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids, and all of these strengthen hair and prevent hair loss.
    • Lemon-ginger tea helps prevent premature graying of the hair.
  13. Maintains liver function:
    • The citric acid present in lemons helps purify the liver.
    • Consuming lemon-ginger tea on an empty stomach helps detoxify the body by eliminating all the toxins from the body.

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What are the nutritional benefits of lemon-ginger tea?

Lemon and ginger normally have the following ingredients:

  • Vitamin C
  • Antioxidants
  • Vitamin B6
  • Potassium
  • Magnesium

Boiling and reducing remove all the aforementioned nutrients, leaving very low amounts behind.

One serving of unsweetened lemon-ginger tea contains the following:

Table. The nutritional content of unsweetened lemon-ginger tea
Nutrient Amount
Calories 0
Total fat 0 grams
Sodium 0 mg
Total carbohydrates 0 grams
Sugars 0 grams
Proteins 0 grams

Nutritional values may change depending on the brand and additional ingredients.

What are the possible side effects of lemon-ginger tea?

Possible side effects of lemon-ginger tea include:

  • Both lemon and ginger are approved safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
  • However, ginger may cause blood thinning and remains a concern in people who are prescribed warfarin or any other blood thinners.
  • Talk to your physician before adding lemon-ginger tea to your daily routine.
  • When you have diabetes, regulating blood sugars is a problem if you are on a keto diet.
  • When carbs are a concern, avoid sugars, honey, or any other artificial sweeteners in lemon-ginger tea.

What is the recipe for making lemon-ginger tea?

Various brands of instant lemon-ginger are available in grocery stores in the form of tea bags. However, to get maximum health benefits out of it, prepare fresh lemon-ginger tea at home using the following recipe:

  1. Take one inch of ginger, one lemon, and four cups of boiling water.
  2. Grate the ginger finely and add the grated ginger to the boiling water and boil for 20 minutes.
  3. Add lemon juice or finely sliced lemon to the mix and let it cool.
  4. Add a few lemon slices for garnishing.
  5. You can add natural sweetener honey to the mix.
  6. Cool the mix and store it. You can have it the whole day, either hot or cold.

Other ingredients such as a mint leaf, cinnamon, and lemon grass can be added to this to get different flavors and tastes.

Medically Reviewed on 8/24/2022
References
Image Source: iStock image

https://www.webmd.com/diet/health-benefits-lemon-ginger-tea#2 health benefits and recipe.

https://www.nutritionvalue.org/Lemon_%26_ginger_caffeine_free_organic_tea_by_First_International_Health_Foods_Ltd._776828_nutritional_value.html Nutritional values.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/ginger-health-benefits/ Health benefits of lemon ginger tea.