diff --git a/doc/configuration.txt b/doc/configuration.txt
index daf5de5e2..6431d7645 100644
--- a/doc/configuration.txt
+++ b/doc/configuration.txt
@@ -2984,6 +2984,8 @@ mworker-max-reloads <number>
   SIGTERM. This option helps to keep under control the number of workers.
   See also "show proc" in the Management Guide.
 
+  By default this value is set to 50.
+
 nbthread <number>
   This setting is only available when support for threads was built in. It
   makes HAProxy run on <number> threads. "nbthread" also works when HAProxy is
diff --git a/src/mworker.c b/src/mworker.c
index ab0e0547d..99bbc0700 100644
--- a/src/mworker.c
+++ b/src/mworker.c
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
 
 
 static int exitcode = -1;
-int max_reloads = INT_MAX; /* max number of reloads a worker can have until they are killed */
+int max_reloads = 50; /* max number of reloads a worker can have until they are killed */
 int load_status; /* worker process startup status: 1 - loaded successfully; 0 - load failed */
 struct mworker_proc *proc_self = NULL; /* process structure of current process */
 struct list mworker_cli_conf = LIST_HEAD_INIT(mworker_cli_conf); /* master CLI configuration (-S flag) */