diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 662b1f8ee..b48888766 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -3225,6 +3225,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows-link",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "paste"
+version = "1.0.15"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "57c0d7b74b563b49d38dae00a0c37d4d6de9b432382b2892f0574ddcae73fd0a"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "pem-rfc7468"
 version = "0.7.0"
@@ -3396,6 +3402,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "stats_alloc",
  "tempfile",
  "thiserror 2.0.18",
+ "tikv-jemalloc-ctl",
  "tikv-jemallocator",
  "tokio",
  "tokio-rustls",
@@ -5284,6 +5291,17 @@ dependencies = [
  "cfg-if",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "tikv-jemalloc-ctl"
+version = "0.6.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "661f1f6a57b3a36dc9174a2c10f19513b4866816e13425d3e418b11cc37bc24c"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+ "paste",
+ "tikv-jemalloc-sys",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "tikv-jemalloc-sys"
 version = "0.6.1+5.3.0-1-ge13ca993e8ccb9ba9847cc330696e02839f328f7"
diff --git a/pgdog/Cargo.toml b/pgdog/Cargo.toml
index 725aa94f3..20bc624e2 100644
--- a/pgdog/Cargo.toml
+++ b/pgdog/Cargo.toml
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ libc = "0.2"
 
 [target.'cfg(not(target_env = "msvc"))'.dependencies]
 tikv-jemallocator = "0.6"
+tikv-jemalloc-ctl = "0.6"
 
 
 [build-dependencies]
diff --git a/pgdog/src/lib.rs b/pgdog/src/lib.rs
index 3e02cf07f..c1011ac13 100644
--- a/pgdog/src/lib.rs
+++ b/pgdog/src/lib.rs
@@ -52,6 +52,17 @@ static GLOBAL: tikv_jemallocator::Jemalloc = tikv_jemallocator::Jemalloc;
 #[global_allocator]
 static GLOBAL: &stats_alloc::StatsAlloc<System> = &stats_alloc::INSTRUMENTED_SYSTEM;
 
+/// Enable jemalloc's background purge threads so freed memory is returned to
+/// the OS after allocation bursts.
+#[cfg(all(not(test), not(target_env = "msvc")))]
+pub fn enable_jemalloc_background_thread() {
+    let _ = tikv_jemalloc_ctl::background_thread::write(true);
+}
+
+/// No-op fallback where jemalloc is not the active allocator.
+#[cfg(any(test, target_env = "msvc"))]
+pub fn enable_jemalloc_background_thread() {}
+
 /// Filter that dynamically installs or removes an inner
 /// [`TracingRateLimitLayer`] at runtime.
 ///
diff --git a/pgdog/src/main.rs b/pgdog/src/main.rs
index 684c87e55..e185551d2 100644
--- a/pgdog/src/main.rs
+++ b/pgdog/src/main.rs
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ use tokio::runtime::Builder;
 use tracing::{error, info, warn};
 
 fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
+    pgdog::enable_jemalloc_background_thread();
+
     let args = cli::Cli::parse();
     let command = args.command.clone();
     let mut overrides = pgdog::config::Overrides::default();