diff --git a/ipfsd.run b/ipfsd.run
index 328a9cc..56a0aa2 100644
--- a/ipfsd.run
+++ b/ipfsd.run
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+sleep 1 # prevent cpu spike on looping
+
 export IPFS="/usr/local/bin/ipfs"
 export HOME="/home/ipfs"
 
diff --git a/sync.run b/sync.run
index cb5b2d2..23538c6 100644
--- a/sync.run
+++ b/sync.run
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 # Make a full sync of an Ubuntu mirror.
 # This currently requires more than 1TB of storage space and takes a long time.
 
+sleep 1 # prevent cpu spike on looping
+
 chown ipfs:ipfs /mirror
 
 chpst -u ipfs /bin/bash << '__EOF__'