diff --git a/api/compose/django/server.sh b/api/compose/django/server.sh
index 0e4c737af..9c7709516 100755
--- a/api/compose/django/server.sh
+++ b/api/compose/django/server.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 #!/bin/bash -eux
 python /app/manage.py collectstatic --noinput
-gunicorn config.asgi:application -w ${FUNKWHALE_WEB_WORKERS-1} -k uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker -b 0.0.0.0:5000
+gunicorn config.asgi:application -w ${FUNKWHALE_WEB_WORKERS-1} -k uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker -b 0.0.0.0:5000 ${GUNICORN_ARGS-}
diff --git a/api/config/asgi.py b/api/config/asgi.py
index b4a8105de..d578a3bff 100644
--- a/api/config/asgi.py
+++ b/api/config/asgi.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import os
 
 os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE", "config.settings.production")
+os.environ.setdefault("ASGI_THREADS", "5")
 
 import django  # noqa
 
diff --git a/api/config/settings/common.py b/api/config/settings/common.py
index a20081dd2..43a7a29f5 100644
--- a/api/config/settings/common.py
+++ b/api/config/settings/common.py
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ DATABASES = {
     "default": env.db("DATABASE_URL")
 }
 DATABASES["default"]["ATOMIC_REQUESTS"] = True
-DATABASES["default"]["CONN_MAX_AGE"] = env("DB_CONN_MAX_AGE", default=60 * 60)
+DATABASES["default"]["CONN_MAX_AGE"] = env("DB_CONN_MAX_AGE", default=60 * 5)
 
 MIGRATION_MODULES = {
     # see https://github.com/jazzband/django-oauth-toolkit/issues/634
diff --git a/changes/changelog.d/db.enhancement b/changes/changelog.d/db.enhancement
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..da25ea858
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/changelog.d/db.enhancement
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Reduce the number of simultaneous DB connections under some deployment scenario