diff --git a/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/execution/MemoryAwareThreadPoolExecutor.java b/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/execution/MemoryAwareThreadPoolExecutor.java
index 7d6589b10d..f2d13f2765 100644
--- a/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/execution/MemoryAwareThreadPoolExecutor.java
+++ b/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/execution/MemoryAwareThreadPoolExecutor.java
@@ -452,6 +452,10 @@ public class MemoryAwareThreadPoolExecutor extends ThreadPoolExecutor {
      * make sure important tasks are not counted.
      */
     protected boolean shouldCount(Runnable task) {
+        if (task instanceof ChannelDownstreamEventRunnable) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
         if (task instanceof ChannelUpstreamEventRunnable) {
             ChannelUpstreamEventRunnable r = (ChannelUpstreamEventRunnable) task;
             ChannelEvent e = r.getEvent();