That's a possible downside but maybe rest in tent would only be offered after player finishes an area? I have to implement it and then test to see what feels better.
Combining potions is a neat idea but that would require craft system of some kind which would need some significant amount of work. I think I would like to put the time into the next game instead - I see more and more downsides in my current approach to map/areas so my next game , while similar, will probably have an actual map where player can click on a point to move there. This would allow adding some additional places of interests, stuff like chests or places that would trigger some actions?