diff --git a/libguac/configure.in b/libguac/configure.in
index 9e7381a7..00eb7162 100644
--- a/libguac/configure.in
+++ b/libguac/configure.in
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ AC_TYPE_SSIZE_T
 # Checks for library functions.
 AC_FUNC_MALLOC
 AC_FUNC_REALLOC
-AC_CHECK_FUNCS([clock_gettime gettimeofday memmove memset select strdup png_get_io_ptr])
+AC_CHECK_FUNCS([clock_gettime gettimeofday memmove memset select strdup png_get_io_ptr nanosleep])
 
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile])
 AC_OUTPUT
diff --git a/libguac/include/client.h b/libguac/include/client.h
index 13938398..83c04560 100644
--- a/libguac/include/client.h
+++ b/libguac/include/client.h
@@ -49,6 +49,22 @@
  * @file client.h
  */
 
+/**
+ * The time to allow between sync responses in milliseconds. If a sync
+ * instruction is sent to the client and no response is received within this
+ * timeframe, server messages will not be handled until a sync instruction is
+ * received from the client.
+ */
+#define GUAC_SYNC_THRESHOLD 500
+
+/**
+ * The amount of time to wait after handling server messages. If a client
+ * plugin has a message handler, and sends instructions when server messages
+ * are being handled, there will be a pause of this many milliseconds before
+ * the next call to the message handler.
+ */
+#define GUAC_SERVER_MESSAGE_HANDLE_FREQUENCY 50
+
 typedef struct guac_client guac_client;
 
 /**
diff --git a/libguac/src/client.c b/libguac/src/client.c
index 1b132af6..8b76f84f 100644
--- a/libguac/src/client.c
+++ b/libguac/src/client.c
@@ -274,6 +274,26 @@ long __guac_current_timestamp() {
 
 }
 
+
+void __guac_sleep(int millis) {
+
+#ifdef HAVE_NANOSLEEP 
+        struct timespec sleep_period;
+
+        sleep_period.tv_sec = 0;
+        sleep_period.tv_nsec = millis * 1000000L;
+
+        nanosleep(&sleep_period, NULL);
+#elif defined(__MINGW32__)
+        Sleep(millis)
+#else
+#warning No sleep/nanosleep function available. Clients may not perform as expected. Consider patching libguac to add support for your platform.
+#endif
+
+}
+
+
+
 void guac_start_client(guac_client* client) {
 
     GUACIO* io = client->io;
@@ -295,7 +315,8 @@ void guac_start_client(guac_client* client) {
             int last_total_written = io->total_written;
 
             /* Only handle messages if synced within threshold */
-            if (last_sent_timestamp - last_received_timestamp < 200) {
+            if (last_sent_timestamp - last_received_timestamp
+                    < GUAC_SYNC_THRESHOLD) {
 
                 int retval = client->handle_messages(client);
                 if (retval) {
@@ -305,8 +326,14 @@ void guac_start_client(guac_client* client) {
 
                 /* If data was written during message handling */
                 if (io->total_written != last_total_written) {
+
+                    /* Sleep as necessary */
+                    __guac_sleep(GUAC_SERVER_MESSAGE_HANDLE_FREQUENCY);
+
+                    /* Update sync timestamp and send sync instruction */
                     last_sent_timestamp = __guac_current_timestamp();
                     guac_send_sync(io, last_sent_timestamp);
+
                 }
 
                 guac_flush(io);