Taking a day off from the gym makes it possible to spend that extra time with your loved ones.

Pushing through a tough workout requires mental toughness and stamina, which means that physical exertion is not only hard on your body, it can really fatigue your brain as well. Spending a day away from your typical training environment can give you a psychological break from exercise and help your mind relax, allowing it to recover along with your muscles.

Moderate- to high-intensity exercise can rely on the glycolysis energy pathway, which uses carbohydrates to fuel muscle activity. Feeling sluggish or drained at the end of a workout could mean your glycogen levels are depleted. If they get too low, your body could catabolize protein for fuel instead of using it to repair muscle tissue. Taking a rest day can help your body properly replace the energy stores in your muscle cells so that you have a full battery for your next hard workout.

A day of rest allows your body to repair tissues damaged from the mechanical stresses of exercise. Specifically, rest allows time for the fibroblasts—individual cells that repair damaged tissues such as muscle proteins—to do their job and repair any tissues that need it.

If your muscles have been feeling a little sore, a day of rest can allow your circulatory system to perform its job of removing metabolic byproducts in muscle cells (from using energy during exercise) while also delivering the oxygen and nutrients used to help repair damaged tissues.

While some consider spending time at the gym or sweating to a favorite workout a hobby, it’s important to have other hobbies as well.

Taking a rest day can benefit your work life, especially if you find yourself cutting your work short to make it to a class or meet friends for a run. Use your rest day to spend some extra time at work to become fully organized or get ahead of the next big project.

The best reason for a rest day? Finish reading that book you keep starting or binge-watch that show that all of your friends are talking about. Tell yourself that you’re not being lazy, but rather you are focused on the recovery phase of your workout program.