Alcohol contributes energy. Caffeine usually contributes little or none, but its timing may affect sleep. Calk keeps both in the same daily record as the food.
Alcohol Contribution#
What Calk calculates. Alcohol provides about 7 kcal per gram. Calk estimates the energy from recorded alcoholic drinks and shows its share of the day’s total Institute 2005.
The result depends on the drink and amount. Beer strength, wine serving size, cocktail ingredients and mixers can change the number substantially.
What you can do. Check the drinks that repeat and the serving used in the entry. If the contribution is larger than expected, change the amount, the frequency or what it is mixed with.
Alcohol Timing#
What Calk calculates. Calk records when alcohol appeared and counts the days when a drink came after 6 pm. It has no sleep data: late here means late on the clock, not late relative to your own bedtime. Alcohol can shorten sleep and disrupt sleep architecture even when it initially feels sedating Al 2017.
What you can do. Compare drinking evenings with sleep and appetite in your own routine. Then try one change at a time: finish earlier, drink less, or keep some evenings alcohol-free.
Alcohol Weekend Pattern#
What Calk calculates. Calk compares how often alcohol appears on weekends and weekdays and how much of the weekly alcohol contribution is concentrated on a few days.
What you can do. Use the weekly total and the concentration together. The same total spread differently can describe a different social pattern, but the diary alone cannot determine personal risk or a safe amount.
Alcohol with Food#
What Calk calculates. Calk checks whether recorded drinks appeared with a meal and which foods regularly accompanied them. Experimental research suggests that alcohol can increase short-term food intake in some settings, with substantial variation between people and studies Yeomans 2010.
What you can do. If the same pairing repeats—drinks with fries, late takeaway or dessert—look at the whole occasion, drink and food together.
Evenings With a Drink#
What Calk calculates. On days with a drink, Calk looks at what share of that day’s food landed in the evening, and compares it with days without one. The share is measured inside the drinking day itself.
It cannot tell whether alcohol caused the difference. Sleep, social schedule, restaurant food and an unusual weekend routine can move together.
What you can do. If the evening consistently takes a larger share on drinking days, plan the whole evening, food included.
Caffeine Timing#
What Calk calculates. Calk estimates caffeine from recorded coffee, tea, energy drinks, chocolate and other sources, then counts the days when caffeine appeared after 3 pm. The 3 pm mark is a fixed clock time; Calk has no sleep data to work from.
In a controlled study, a 400 mg caffeine dose taken even six hours before bed reduced measured sleep time Drake 2013. That was a large fixed dose and does not mean every late tea has the same effect. EFSA considers single doses up to 200 mg and daily intake up to 400 mg generally safe for healthy adults, with different limits during pregnancy EFSA 2015.
What you can do. If sleep is the question, move the last caffeine earlier for one or two weeks while keeping the rest of the routine similar. Personal response matters more than a universal clock time.
Repeated Late Stimulants#
What Calk calculates. This view needs the pattern to repeat: caffeine or another stimulant late in the day on several recorded days.
What you can do. Start with the largest repeated source and move it earlier, reduce it or replace it with a lower-caffeine version. If sleep problems persist or medication is involved, follow medical guidance.