A new study, The Sweet Escape: Effects of Mortality Salience on Consumption Quantities for High- and Low-Self-Esteem Consumers, published in the Journal of Consumer Research may give viewers pause about all the death they’re routinely letting into their living rooms. Apparently, must-bleed-TV may just make you eat and shop more.

According to Naomi Mandel, co-author of the study and an associate professor of marketing at Arizona State University. “

“We found that when people think about the fact that they’re going to die someday — not now, but someday — they want to consume more of everything. . . We find this with snacks and drinks but also all kinds of different foods: frozen foods, meats, vegetables, everything.”

“This effect occurs primarily among low-self-esteem consumers. We explain our findings in terms of escape from self-awareness. Low (but not high) self-esteem participants overconsume in response to a mortality salience activation as a means to escape from self-awareness. We also address alternative explanations for these effects.”