diff --git a/doc/changelog.rst b/doc/changelog.rst
index 8c4d5801e..b55fae212 100644
--- a/doc/changelog.rst
+++ b/doc/changelog.rst
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ Highlights include:
   `tzinfo` option of :class:`~bson.codec_options.CodecOptions`.
 - An implementation of :class:`~gridfs.GridFSBucket` from the new GridFS spec.
 - Compliance with the new Connection String spec.
+- Reduced idle CPU usage in Python 2.
 
 Changes in internal classes
 ...........................
diff --git a/doc/developer/periodic_executor.rst b/doc/developer/periodic_executor.rst
index b794ad80a..6327cfd83 100644
--- a/doc/developer/periodic_executor.rst
+++ b/doc/developer/periodic_executor.rst
@@ -7,22 +7,6 @@ PyMongo implements a :class:`~periodic_executor.PeriodicExecutor` for two
 purposes: as the background thread for :class:`~monitor.Monitor`, and to
 regularly check if there are `OP_KILL_CURSORS` messages that must be sent to the server.
 
-Monitoring
-----------
-
-For each server in the topology, :class:`~topology.Topology` launches a
-monitor thread. This thread must not prevent the topology from being freed,
-so it weakrefs the topology. Furthermore, it uses a weakref callback to close
-itself promptly when the topology is freed.
-
-Solid lines represent strong references, dashed lines weak ones:
-
-.. generated with graphviz from periodic-executor-refs.dot
-
-.. image:: ../static/periodic-executor-refs.png
-
-See `Stopping Executors`_ below for an explanation of ``_EXECUTORS``.
-
 Killing Cursors
 ---------------
 
@@ -35,16 +19,17 @@ the cursor before finishing iteration::
 
 We try to send an `OP_KILL_CURSORS` to the server to tell it to clean up the
 server-side cursor. But we must not take any locks directly from the cursor's
-destructor (see `PYTHON-799 <https://jira.mongodb.org/browse/PYTHON-799>`_),
-so we cannot safely use the PyMongo data structures required to send a message.
-The solution is to add the cursor's id to an array on the
-:class:`~mongo_client.MongoClient` without taking any locks.
+destructor (see `PYTHON-799`_), so we cannot safely use the PyMongo data
+structures required to send a message. The solution is to add the cursor's id
+to an array on the :class:`~mongo_client.MongoClient` without taking any locks.
 
 Each client has a :class:`~periodic_executor.PeriodicExecutor` devoted to
 checking the array for cursor ids. Any it sees are the result of cursors that
 were freed while the server-side cursor was still open. The executor can safely
 take the locks it needs in order to send the `OP_KILL_CURSORS` message.
 
+.. _PYTHON-799: https://jira.mongodb.org/browse/PYTHON-799
+
 Stopping Executors
 ------------------
 
@@ -55,7 +40,7 @@ the topology calls :meth:`close` on all its monitor threads, the :meth:`close`
 method cannot actually call :meth:`wake` on the executor, since :meth:`wake`
 takes a lock.
 
-Instead, executors wake very frequently to check if ``self.close`` is set,
+Instead, executors wake periodically to check if ``self.close`` is set,
 and if so they exit.
 
 A thread can log spurious errors if it wakes late in the Python interpreter's
@@ -67,3 +52,62 @@ An `exit handler`_ runs on shutdown and tells all executors to stop, then
 tries (with a short timeout) to join all executor threads.
 
 .. _exit handler: https://docs.python.org/2/library/atexit.html
+
+Monitoring
+----------
+
+For each server in the topology, :class:`~topology.Topology` uses a periodic
+executor to launch a monitor thread. This thread must not prevent the topology
+from being freed, so it weakrefs the topology. Furthermore, it uses a weakref
+callback to terminate itself soon after the topology is freed.
+
+Solid lines represent strong references, dashed lines weak ones:
+
+.. generated with graphviz: "dot -Tpng periodic-executor-refs.dot > periodic-executor-refs.png"
+
+.. image:: ../static/periodic-executor-refs.png
+
+See `Stopping Executors`_ above for an explanation of the ``_EXECUTORS`` set.
+
+It is a requirement of the `Server Discovery And Monitoring Spec`_ that a
+sleeping monitor can be awakened early. Aside from infrequent wakeups to do
+their appointed chores, and occasional interruptions, periodic executors also
+wake periodically to check if they should terminate.
+
+Our first implementation of this idea was the obvious one: use the Python
+standard library's threading.Condition.wait with a timeout. Another thread
+wakes the executor early by signaling the condition variable.
+
+A topology cannot signal the condition variable to tell the executor to
+terminate, because it would risk a deadlock in the garbage collector: no
+destructor or weakref callback can take a lock to signal the condition variable
+(see `PYTHON-863`_); thus the only way for a dying object to terminate a
+periodic executor is to set its "stopped" flag and let the executor see the
+flag next time it wakes.
+
+We erred on the side of prompt cleanup, and set the check interval at 100ms. We
+assumed that checking a flag and going back to sleep 10 times a second was
+cheap on modern machines.
+
+Starting in Python 3.2, the builtin C implementation of lock.acquire takes a
+timeout parameter, so Python 3.2+ Condition variables sleep simply by calling
+lock.acquire; they are implemented as efficiently as expected.
+
+But in Python 2, lock.acquire has no timeout. To wait with a timeout, a Python
+2 condition variable sleeps a millisecond, tries to acquire the lock, sleeps
+twice as long, and tries again. This exponential backoff reaches a maximum
+sleep time of 50ms.
+
+If PyMongo calls the condition variable's "wait" method with a short timeout,
+the exponential backoff is restarted frequently. Overall, the condition variable
+is not waking a few times a second, but hundreds of times. (See `PYTHON-983`_.)
+
+Thus the current design of periodic executors is surprisingly simple: they
+do a simple `time.sleep` for a half-second, check if it is time to wake or
+terminate, and sleep again.
+
+.. _Server Discovery And Monitoring Spec: https://github.com/mongodb/specifications/blob/master/source/server-discovery-and-monitoring/server-discovery-and-monitoring.rst#requesting-an-immediate-check
+
+.. _PYTHON-863: https://jira.mongodb.org/browse/PYTHON-863
+
+.. _PYTHON-983: https://jira.mongodb.org/browse/PYTHON-983
diff --git a/doc/static/periodic-executor-refs.dot b/doc/static/periodic-executor-refs.dot
index 003af9f57..39632cfa7 100644
--- a/doc/static/periodic-executor-refs.dot
+++ b/doc/static/periodic-executor-refs.dot
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ digraph "Monitor and PeriodicExecutor" {
     monitor -> executor
     executor -> "target()"
     "target()" -> self_ref
+    thread -> "target()"
 
     // Weak references
     edge [style="dashed"];
diff --git a/doc/static/periodic-executor-refs.png b/doc/static/periodic-executor-refs.png
index 9530a5669..3224b3d1d 100644
Binary files a/doc/static/periodic-executor-refs.png and b/doc/static/periodic-executor-refs.png differ
diff --git a/pymongo/periodic_executor.py b/pymongo/periodic_executor.py
index 384b6063e..8b7015b3f 100644
--- a/pymongo/periodic_executor.py
+++ b/pymongo/periodic_executor.py
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ class PeriodicExecutor(object):
         """
         # threading.Event and its internal condition variable are expensive
         # in Python 2, see PYTHON-983. Use a boolean to know when to wake.
+        # The executor's design is constrained by several Python issues, see
+        # "periodic_executor.rst" in this repository.
         self._event = False
         self._interval = interval
         self._min_interval = min_interval