Many of us may have probably smoked a few sticks while drinking a few bottles of beer in our lifetimes, and why not? There is a certain drunken sensation heightened by nicotine that feels kind of good. But according to recent research featured on ScienceDaily.com, drinking and smoking at the same time won’t give you the same party in your head the following day; it’ll just worsen your hangover.

It’s still mostly a mystery as to why some get really nasty day-after headaches while some don’t, but Dr. Damaris J. Rohsenow and her team from the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island think that smoking may have something to do with it. Collating data from a previous online survey done by 113 college students who drank around six beer cans in an hour every day for eight weeks, researchers found that those who smoked while consuming alcohol had higher chances of getting a hangover than those who didn’t.

You know that adnrealine high brought about by mixing alcohol and nicotine? That’s probably the dopamine your body has been releasing, and although no one can yet explain how smoking is tied with hangovers, this shows that nicotine and alcohol have in fact a strong connection to how your brain works and responds under the influence of these substances.

It’s not yet proven whether or not hangovers can cause cumulative brain damage, but Rohsenow suggests that if you’re not ready to stop drinking, at least try to cut down on the cigarettes. Remember, you don’t really need to indulge in bad habits just to have fun.

(Photo by Nikolai Vassiliev via Flickr Creative Commons)