diff --git a/ttyplot.c b/ttyplot.c
index 5793722..cf0e25b 100644
--- a/ttyplot.c
+++ b/ttyplot.c
@@ -499,7 +499,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
         if (previous_parse_succeeded) {
             timeout.tv_nsec = 0;  // we may have more input pressing, let's not throttle it down
         } else {
-            timeout.tv_nsec = 500 * 1000 * 1000;  // <=500 milliseconds for a healthy clock display
+            timeout.tv_nsec = 200 * 1000 * 1000;  // <=500 milliseconds for a healthy clock display
         }
         const int select_ret = pselect(select_nfds, &read_fds, NULL, NULL, &timeout, &empty_sigset);