You’re checking your inbox and ping! You’ve just been invited to a holiday party you have no interest in attending. Do you pretend to be sick? Fake an emergency? Or do you slog through several hours of small talk in questionable sweaters?

Fortunately, you might have an out, and it’s backed by science. Research suggests that declining an invitation to something you don’t want to go to is good for your mental health.

Researchers from West Virginia University and the New York Institute of Technology conducted five studies involving more than 2,000 people in which they gave participants real and hypothetical scenarios to ponder.

In one, participants imagined they had turned down a friend’s invite to attend a museum exhibit and were asked to identify the negative ramifications, from the friend’s perspective.

The imagined fallout included possible relationship harm, fewer future invitations, disappointment, and anger.

Other participants imagined a friend had turned down their museum exhibit visit invitation and were asked to identify consequences.

Results showed that the participants being invited overestimated the negative impacts that followed their decline. Inviters did not feel as strongly about the decline as invitees expected.

The findings could help ease holiday-activity burnout because knowing that inviters don’t mind as much as we think they do could lessen our fears.

So, the next time you get invited to a cookie-decorating party or a white elephant exchange and you really don’t want to go, rest assured that a quiet night on the couch likely won’t cost you a friend.