Researchers say your brain does its best to keep you from dwelling on your inevitable demise. A study found that the brain shields people from existential fear by categorising death as an unfortunate event that only befalls other people, The Guardian reports.

“The brain does not accept that death is related to us,” said Yair Dor-Ziderman, at Bar Ilan University in Israel. “We have this primal mechanism that means when the brain gets information that links self to death, something tells us it’s not reliable, so we shouldn’t believe it.”

Being shielded from thoughts of your future death could be crucial for your to live in the present. The protection may switch on in early life as your mind develops and you realise death comes to everyone.

“The moment you have this ability to look into your own future, you realise that at some point you’re going to die and there’s nothing you can do about it,” said Dor-Ziderman. “That goes against the grain of our whole biology, which is helping us to stay alive.”