diff --git a/c_src/async_nif.h b/c_src/async_nif.h
index 008b5e0..539bc75 100644
--- a/c_src/async_nif.h
+++ b/c_src/async_nif.h
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ extern "C" {
 
 #define ASYNC_NIF_MAX_WORKERS 1024
 #define ASYNC_NIF_MIN_WORKERS 2
-#define ASYNC_NIF_WORKER_QUEUE_SIZE 4096
+#define ASYNC_NIF_WORKER_QUEUE_SIZE 256
 #define ASYNC_NIF_MAX_QUEUED_REQS ASYNC_NIF_WORKER_QUEUE_SIZE * ASYNC_NIF_MAX_WORKERS
 
 struct async_nif_req_entry {
@@ -391,20 +391,25 @@ async_nif_worker_fn(void *arg)
     }
     if (STAILQ_EMPTY(&q->reqs)) {
       /* Queue is empty so we wait for more work to arrive. */
-      if (q->num_workers > ASYNC_NIF_MIN_WORKERS) {
-          enif_mutex_unlock(q->reqs_mutex);
-          if (tries == 0 && q == we->q) break; // we've tried all queues, thread exit
-          else {
-              tries--;
-              __sync_fetch_and_add(&q->num_workers, -1);
-              q = q->next;
-              __sync_fetch_and_add(&q->num_workers, 1);
-              continue; // try next queue
-          }
-      } else {
-          enif_cond_wait(q->reqs_cnd, q->reqs_mutex);
-          goto check_again_for_work;
-      }
+	enif_mutex_unlock(q->reqs_mutex);
+	if (tries == 0 && q == we->q) {
+	    if (q->num_workers > ASYNC_NIF_MIN_WORKERS) {
+		/* At this point we've tried to find/execute work on all queues
+		 * and there are at least MIN_WORKERS on this queue so we
+		 * leaving this loop (break) which leads to a thread exit/join. */
+		break;
+	    } else {
+		enif_mutex_lock(q->reqs_mutex);
+		enif_cond_wait(q->reqs_cnd, q->reqs_mutex);
+		goto check_again_for_work;
+	    }
+	} else {
+	    tries--;
+	    __sync_fetch_and_add(&q->num_workers, -1);
+	    q = q->next;
+	    __sync_fetch_and_add(&q->num_workers, 1);
+	    continue; // try next queue
+	}
     } else {
       /* At this point the next req is ours to process and we hold the
          reqs_mutex lock.  Take the request off the queue. */
@@ -412,8 +417,7 @@ async_nif_worker_fn(void *arg)
       STAILQ_REMOVE(&q->reqs, req, async_nif_req_entry, entries);
       __sync_fetch_and_add(&q->depth, -1);
 
-      /* Ensure that there is at least one other worker thread watching this
-         queue. */
+      /* Wake up other worker thread watching this queue to help process work. */
       enif_cond_signal(q->reqs_cnd);
       enif_mutex_unlock(q->reqs_mutex);
 
@@ -554,7 +558,6 @@ async_nif_load()
       if (num_queues < 2)
           num_queues = 2;
   }
-  num_queues *= 32;
 
   /* Init our portion of priv_data's module-specific state. */
   async_nif = enif_alloc(sizeof(struct async_nif_state) +