diff --git a/path_redirect.admin.inc b/path_redirect.admin.inc
index 2cd4146..95b99dc 100644
--- a/path_redirect.admin.inc
+++ b/path_redirect.admin.inc
@@ -516,6 +516,13 @@ function path_redirect_settings_form() {
     '#default_value' => variable_get('path_redirect_purge_inactive', 0),
     '#options' => array(0 => t('Never (do not discard)')) + drupal_map_assoc(array(604800, 1209600, 2419200, 4838400, 7257600, 9676800, 31536000), 'format_interval'),
   );
+  $form['path_redirect_update_last_used_interval'] = array(
+    '#type' => 'select',
+    '#title' => t('Minimum time between updates of the "last used" field'),
+    '#default_value' => variable_get('path_redirect_update_last_used_interval', 86400),
+    '#options' => array(1 => t('Update in every request')) + drupal_map_assoc(array(3600, 10800, 86400, 604800, 2419200, 9676800), 'format_interval') + array(0 => t('Never update')),
+    '#description' => 'For performance reasons you may not want to update the "last used" field every time a redirect is used. This interval should be lower than the above interval used for discarding inactive redirects.',
+  );
   $form['path_redirect_default_status'] = array(
     '#type' => 'select',
     '#title' => t('Default redirect status'),
diff --git a/path_redirect.module b/path_redirect.module
index e964a35..3052862 100644
--- a/path_redirect.module
+++ b/path_redirect.module
@@ -117,8 +117,12 @@ function path_redirect_goto($redirect = NULL) {
     // Create the absolute redirection URL.
     $redirect['redirect_url'] = url($redirect['redirect'], array('query' => $redirect['query'], 'fragment' => $redirect['fragment'], 'absolute' => TRUE));
 
-    // Update the last used timestamp so that unused redirects can be purged.
-    db_query("UPDATE {path_redirect} SET last_used = %d WHERE rid = %d", time(), $redirect['rid']);
+    // Update the last used timestamp so that unused redirects can be purged. By
+    // default only update this once per day to avoid too many database writes.
+    $update_interval = variable_get('path_redirect_update_last_used_interval', 86400);
+    if ($update_interval && (time() - $redirect['last_used'] > $update_interval)) {
+      db_query("UPDATE {path_redirect} SET last_used = %d WHERE rid = %d", time(), $redirect['rid']);
+    }
 
     if (url($redirect['redirect']) == url($_GET['q'])) {
       // Prevent infinite loop redirection.