diff --git a/requirements-app.txt b/requirements-app.txt
index 5235d6de5..b909ad86c 100644
--- a/requirements-app.txt
+++ b/requirements-app.txt
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ pyexcel-xls==0.5.8
 pyexcel-xlsx==0.5.6
 pyexcel-ods3==0.5.2
 pytz==2018.5
-gunicorn==19.8.1
+gunicorn==19.7.1  # >19.8 stops eventlet workers after a timeout
 whitenoise==4.0  #manages static assets
 eventlet==0.24.1
 notifications-python-client==5.1.0
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 2f5706501..3eb435a5f 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ pyexcel-xls==0.5.8
 pyexcel-xlsx==0.5.6
 pyexcel-ods3==0.5.2
 pytz==2018.5
-gunicorn==19.8.1
+gunicorn==19.7.1  # >19.8 stops eventlet workers after a timeout
 whitenoise==4.0  #manages static assets
 eventlet==0.24.1
 notifications-python-client==5.1.0