diff --git a/docsite/rst/intro_configuration.rst b/docsite/rst/intro_configuration.rst
index 06db8fa3e03..7549793e3ca 100644
--- a/docsite/rst/intro_configuration.rst
+++ b/docsite/rst/intro_configuration.rst
@@ -432,6 +432,20 @@ implications and wish to disable it, you may do so here by setting the value to
 
     host_key_checking=True
 
+.. _internal_poll_interval:
+
+internal_poll_interval
+======================
+
+.. versionadded:: 2.2
+
+This sets the interval (in seconds) of Ansible internal processes polling each other.
+Lower values improve performance with large playbooks at the expense of extra CPU load.
+Higher values are more suitable for Ansible usage in automation scenarios, when UI responsiveness is not required but CPU usage might be a concern.
+Default corresponds to the value hardcoded in Ansible ≤ 2.1::
+
+    internal_poll_interval=0.001
+
 .. _inventory_file:
 
 inventory
diff --git a/lib/ansible/constants.py b/lib/ansible/constants.py
index 77b1d20c201..0ace1782b76 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/constants.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/constants.py
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ DEFAULT_COW_WHITELIST = ['bud-frogs', 'bunny', 'cheese', 'daemon', 'default', 'd
 DEFAULTS='defaults'
 
 # FIXME: add deprecation warning when these get set
-#### DEPRECATED VARS #### 
+#### DEPRECATED VARS ####
 # use more sanely named 'inventory'
 DEPRECATED_HOST_LIST  = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'hostfile', 'ANSIBLE_HOSTS', '/etc/ansible/hosts', ispath=True)
 # this is not used since 0.5 but people might still have in config
@@ -195,6 +195,7 @@ DEFAULT_LOG_PATH          = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'log_path',           'ANSIB
 DEFAULT_FORCE_HANDLERS    = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'force_handlers', 'ANSIBLE_FORCE_HANDLERS', False, boolean=True)
 DEFAULT_INVENTORY_IGNORE  = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'inventory_ignore_extensions', 'ANSIBLE_INVENTORY_IGNORE', ["~", ".orig", ".bak", ".ini", ".cfg", ".retry", ".pyc", ".pyo"], islist=True)
 DEFAULT_VAR_COMPRESSION_LEVEL = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'var_compression_level', 'ANSIBLE_VAR_COMPRESSION_LEVEL', 0, integer=True)
+DEFAULT_INTERNAL_POLL_INTERVAL = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'internal_poll_interval', None, 0.001, floating=True)
 
 # static includes
 DEFAULT_TASK_INCLUDES_STATIC    = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'task_includes_static', 'ANSIBLE_TASK_INCLUDES_STATIC', False, boolean=True)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/__init__.py
index 5944e5bc034..79c0ccf16f0 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/__init__.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ from collections import deque
 from multiprocessing import Lock
 from jinja2.exceptions import UndefinedError
 
+from ansible import constants as C
 from ansible.compat.six.moves import queue as Queue
 from ansible.compat.six import iteritems, string_types
 from ansible.errors import AnsibleError, AnsibleParserError, AnsibleUndefinedVariable
@@ -530,7 +531,7 @@ class StrategyBase:
             results = self._process_pending_results(iterator)
             ret_results.extend(results)
             if self._pending_results > 0:
-                time.sleep(0.001)
+                time.sleep(C.DEFAULT_INTERNAL_POLL_INTERVAL)
 
         display.debug("no more pending results, returning what we have")
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/free.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/free.py
index 7f92de60ac1..45e417a23ec 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/free.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/free.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ __metaclass__ = type
 
 import time
 
+from ansible import constants as C
 from ansible.errors import AnsibleError
 from ansible.playbook.included_file import IncludedFile
 from ansible.plugins import action_loader
@@ -202,7 +203,7 @@ class StrategyModule(StrategyBase):
                 display.debug("done adding collected blocks to iterator")
 
             # pause briefly so we don't spin lock
-            time.sleep(0.001)
+            time.sleep(C.DEFAULT_INTERNAL_POLL_INTERVAL)
 
         # collect all the final results
         results = self._wait_on_pending_results(iterator)