My Facebook feed is littered with pictures of turkeys and pilgrims, invitations for events over the vacation and countdowns until people go home for break. The long-awaited Thanksgiving break is around the corner, and everybody simply needs to survive through this week.

There is one group of students who don’t have much to look forward to: athletes. Yes, athletes don’t have any classes during break, but their sporting schedule moves at full speed ahead while everybody else leaves campus.

There’s no going home for them, there are no Black Wednesday celebrations. They don’t have 15-hour TV marathons and they don’t get to spend so much time at home that they get sick of their families.

Rather, they have practice and competitions throughout the hiatus from school. Athletes often have a team dinner for Thanksgiving.

Men’s basketball travels to Hawaii and women’s basketball to the Bahamas — yes, those are pretty fancy Thanksgiving destinations, but the athletes still have to compete. Football, swimming and diving, and volleyball all have competitions at Northwestern. Volleyball has its final four matches during the break, and wrestling travels to New York.

The typical student is burned out right now, and student-athletes have it 10 times worse because they are balancing their schoolwork with competitive athletics. These athletes have worked arguably harder than everybody else and receive little break in return.

I propose a universal collegiate sports bye week for the weekend after Thanksgiving break.

This would give all college athletes a much-deserved rest before the final stretch of the academic semester.

The season wouldn’t stop completely; there would just be a weekend of no athletic competition across American colleges. The NCAA could sanction this rule, and it would be applicable to all sports.

Yes, athletes would still have to practice and work out, but no formal competition would give them the opportunity to relax. The coaches could tone down workouts and allow athletes to recharge before the end of the season.

An extra break is key to help athletes get back on their rhythm, especially during a rough season like many Illinois sports are going through right now. It would also give them an additional opportunity to focus on their studies.

Athletes could possibly have the opportunity to go home for a few days and spend time with their families. Holidays are supposed to be about spending time with your family, not about furthering a bond as a team.

The break would help the athletes gain energy and find a competitive spark to push them through the end of the season. This would make those often lackluster end-of-season matches much more thrilling to watch. And it would lead to a more competitive postseason because the athletes had more of an opportunity to mentally prepare over Thanksgiving break.

One may argue that holidays, especially Thanksgiving, revolve around sports. I believe the best cure for a turkey coma is to lie on the couch and watch football. It’s time to leave that entertainment to the professionals. They are getting paid to play sports, and they do not have to worry about exams and projects looming in the not-so-distant future.

A full break could interfere with a teams’ flow, but that is why there would only be one mandated weekend off. From there, coaches can determine the best plan for their team during break.

For soccer, a bye week would interfere with the NCAA tournament. The quarterfinals are scheduled for the weekend after Thanksgiving, and the semifinal and championship matches are not until the first weekend of December.

When a tournament already extends over a four-week period, one more week would not hurt anyone. If necessary, the quarterfinal match could be moved to a mid-week competition.

This break could seem unnecessary for sports like basketball and wrestling, whose seasons have just begun. Although premature, the bye week could allow the athletes to store up energy for the rough days ahead of managing final exams.

Thanksgiving break is a glorious time of relaxation and rejuvenation. It’s only right for student-athletes to experience that greatness.

Give the athletes a break — it will make everybody happier in the long run.

Emily is a graduate student. She can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @EmilyBayci.