Dec. 5, 2012 -- New research suggests that your hangover will be worse if you smoke when you drink.

People who smoke on a day when they have been drinking alcohol heavily are twice as likely to report hangover symptoms as those who only drank. In the study of college students, heavy drinking was defined as about five or six cans of beer in one hour.

But substance abuse experts not affiliated with study are quick to point out that binge drinking and smoking -- alone and together -- can have far worse consequences than hangover symptoms. Smoking increases the risk for cancer, heart disease, and stroke, and binge drinking can lead to addiction, alcohol poisoning, car accidents, and unprotected sex.

“In general, people smoke more when they drink because it counteracts some of the sedative effects of alcohol,” says researcher Damaris J. Rohsenow, PhD. She is a professor of behavioral and social sciences at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University in Providence, R.I.

“People also tend to feel better when they smoke while drinking because both increase the release of [the brain chemical] dopamine.” Dopamine is known as the brain’s pleasure chemical.

The findings appear in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.