diff --git a/Featurecreep.md b/Featurecreep.md
index 872950dbc8..95e952e125 100644
--- a/Featurecreep.md
+++ b/Featurecreep.md
@@ -213,6 +213,7 @@ Sorry for some of them being in German, I'll tranlate them at some point.
 * [x] Re-check all `{List|Namespace}{User|Team}` if really all parameters need to be exposed via json or are overwritten via param anyway.
 * [x] Things like list/task order should use queries and not url params
 * [x] Fix lint errors
+* [x] Add settings for max open/idle connections and max connection lifetime
 * [ ] Reminders should use an extra table so we can make reverse lookups aka "give me all tasks with reminders in this period" which we'll need for things like email reminders notifications
 * [ ] Teams and users should also have uuids (for users these can be the username)
 * [ ] When giving a team or user access to a list/namespace, they should be reffered to by uuid, not numeric id
diff --git a/config.yml.sample b/config.yml.sample
index a796bce8ac..b768881d25 100644
--- a/config.yml.sample
+++ b/config.yml.sample
@@ -33,7 +33,11 @@ database:
   # When using sqlite, this is the path where to store the data
   Path: "./vikunja.db"
   # Sets the max open connections to the database. Only used when using mysql.
-  openconnections: 100
+  maxopenconnections: 100
+  # Sets the maximum number of idle connections to the db.
+  maxidleconnections: 50
+  # The maximum lifetime of a single db connection in miliseconds.
+  maxconnectionlifetime: 10000
 
 cache:
   # If cache is enabled or not
diff --git a/docs/content/doc/setup/config.md b/docs/content/doc/setup/config.md
index 03a9a5c198..64eb74426c 100644
--- a/docs/content/doc/setup/config.md
+++ b/docs/content/doc/setup/config.md
@@ -76,7 +76,11 @@ database:
   # When using sqlite, this is the path where to store the data
   Path: "./vikunja.db"
   # Sets the max open connections to the database. Only used when using mysql.
-  openconnections: 100
+  maxopenconnections: 100
+  # Sets the maximum number of idle connections to the db.
+  maxidleconnections: 50
+  # The maximum lifetime of a single db connection in miliseconds.
+  maxconnectionlifetime: 10000
 
 cache:
   # If cache is enabled or not
diff --git a/pkg/config/config.go b/pkg/config/config.go
index 3090238480..f17ca1326b 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -57,7 +57,10 @@ func InitConfig() {
 	viper.SetDefault("database.password", "")
 	viper.SetDefault("database.database", "vikunja")
 	viper.SetDefault("database.path", "./vikunja.db")
-	viper.SetDefault("database.openconnections", 100)
+	viper.SetDefault("database.maxopenconnections", 100)
+	viper.SetDefault("database.maxidleconnections", 50)
+	viper.SetDefault("database.maxconnectionlifetime", 10000)
+
 	// Cacher
 	viper.SetDefault("cache.enabled", false)
 	viper.SetDefault("cache.type", "memory")
diff --git a/pkg/db/db.go b/pkg/db/db.go
index 69acda4ae9..fd8d124f3c 100644
--- a/pkg/db/db.go
+++ b/pkg/db/db.go
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/go-xorm/core"
 	"github.com/go-xorm/xorm"
 	"github.com/spf13/viper"
+	"strconv"
+	"time"
 
 	_ "github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql" // Because.
 	_ "github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3"    // Because.
@@ -64,7 +66,16 @@ func initMysqlEngine() (engine *xorm.Engine, err error) {
 		viper.GetString("database.host"),
 		viper.GetString("database.database"))
 	engine, err = xorm.NewEngine("mysql", connStr)
-	engine.SetMaxOpenConns(viper.GetInt("database.openconnections"))
+	if err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+	engine.SetMaxOpenConns(viper.GetInt("database.maxopenconnections"))
+	engine.SetMaxIdleConns(viper.GetInt("database.maxidleconnections"))
+	max, err := time.ParseDuration(strconv.Itoa(viper.GetInt("database.maxconnectionlifetime")) + `ms`)
+	if err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+	engine.SetConnMaxLifetime(max)
 	return
 }