diff --git a/peachjam/settings.py b/peachjam/settings.py
index 11498b55e..d9f5ace27 100644
--- a/peachjam/settings.py
+++ b/peachjam/settings.py
@@ -183,6 +183,7 @@
     "default": default_db_config,
     "gazettes_africa": gazette_db_config,
 }
+CONN_MAX_AGE = 60 * 9  # RDS proxy closes idle connections after 10 minutes
 # descriptive name for this application in psql's pg_stat_activity output, to help link connections to apps
 db_app_name = "-".join(
     [slugify(PEACHJAM["APP_NAME"]), os.environ.get("DYNO", "django")]