diff --git a/ansible/roles/rabbitmq/defaults/main.yml b/ansible/roles/rabbitmq/defaults/main.yml
index 6f42e12a21..6b7cf89ae4 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/rabbitmq/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/rabbitmq/defaults/main.yml
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ rabbitmq_user: "openstack"
 rabbitmq_cluster_name: "openstack"
 rabbitmq_hostname: "{{ ansible_hostname }}"
 rabbitmq_pid_file: "/var/lib/rabbitmq/mnesia/rabbitmq.pid"
-rabbitmq_server_additional_erl_args: ""
+rabbitmq_server_additional_erl_args: "+S 2:2 +sbwt none"
 # Dict of TLS options for RabbitMQ. Keys will be prefixed with 'ssl_options.'.
 rabbitmq_tls_options: {}
 # To avoid split-brain
diff --git a/doc/source/reference/message-queues/rabbitmq.rst b/doc/source/reference/message-queues/rabbitmq.rst
index 916df309c8..8259fcc43a 100644
--- a/doc/source/reference/message-queues/rabbitmq.rst
+++ b/doc/source/reference/message-queues/rabbitmq.rst
@@ -86,12 +86,25 @@ internal VIP. As such, traffic to this endpoint is encrypted when
 Passing arguments to RabbitMQ server's Erlang VM
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-Erlang programs run in Erlang VM (virtual machine) and use Erlang runtime.
-Erlang VM can be configured.
+Erlang programs run in an Erlang VM (virtual machine) and use the Erlang
+runtime.  The Erlang VM can be configured.
 
 Kolla Ansible makes it possible to pass arguments to the Erlang VM via the
-usage of ``rabbitmq_server_additional_erl_args`` variable. The contents of it
-are appended to ``RABBITMQ_SERVER_ADDITIONAL_ERL_ARGS`` environment variable
-passed to RabbitMQ server startup script. Kolla Ansible already configures
-RabbitMQ server for IPv6 (if necessary). Any argument can be passed there as
-documented in https://www.rabbitmq.com/runtime.html
+usage of the ``rabbitmq_server_additional_erl_args`` variable. The contents of
+it are appended to the ``RABBITMQ_SERVER_ADDITIONAL_ERL_ARGS`` environment
+variable which is passed to the RabbitMQ server startup script. Kolla Ansible
+already configures RabbitMQ server for IPv6 (if necessary). Any argument can be
+passed there as documented in https://www.rabbitmq.com/runtime.html
+
+The default value for ``rabbitmq_server_additional_erl_args`` is ``+S 2:2 +sbwt
+none``.
+
+By default RabbitMQ starts N schedulers where N is the number of CPU cores,
+including hyper-threaded cores. This is fine when you assume all CPUs are
+dedicated to RabbitMQ. Its not a good idea in a typical Kolla Ansible setup.
+Here we go for two scheduler threads (``+S 2:2``).  More details can be found
+here: https://www.rabbitmq.com/runtime.html#scheduling and here:
+https://erlang.org/doc/man/erl.html#emulator-flags
+
+The ``+sbwt`` argument prevents busy waiting of the scheduler, for more details
+see: https://www.rabbitmq.com/runtime.html#busy-waiting.
diff --git a/etc/kolla/globals.yml b/etc/kolla/globals.yml
index 00abf88819..dde0429c9d 100644
--- a/etc/kolla/globals.yml
+++ b/etc/kolla/globals.yml
@@ -396,7 +396,12 @@
 # See Kolla Ansible docs RabbitMQ section for details.
 # These are appended to args already provided by Kolla Ansible
 # to configure IPv6 in RabbitMQ server.
-#rabbitmq_server_additional_erl_args: ""
+# More details can be found in the RabbitMQ docs:
+# https://www.rabbitmq.com/runtime.html#scheduling
+# https://www.rabbitmq.com/runtime.html#busy-waiting
+# The default tells RabbitMQ to always use two cores (+S 2:2),
+# and not to busy wait (+sbwt none):
+#rabbitmq_server_additional_erl_args: "+S 2:2 +sbwt none"
 # Whether to enable TLS encryption for RabbitMQ client-server communication.
 #rabbitmq_enable_tls: "no"
 # CA certificate bundle in RabbitMQ container.
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/reduce-rabbit-busy-waiting-085433c822165eab.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/reduce-rabbit-busy-waiting-085433c822165eab.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4f83fd1055
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/reduce-rabbit-busy-waiting-085433c822165eab.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Fixes an issue where RabbitMQ consumes a large amount of CPU, particularly
+    on multi-core systems.  The default RabbitMQ tuning assumes that RabbitMQ
+    is running on a dedicated host, which is the opposite of a typical Kolla
+    Ansible container setup.  For more details on tuning RabbitMQ in your
+    environment, please see: https://www.rabbitmq.com/runtime.html#busy-waiting
+    https://www.rabbitmq.com/runtime.html#scheduling
+upgrade:
+  - |
+    Modifies the default value of ``rabbitmq_server_additional_erl_args`` from
+    an empty string to ``+S 2:2 +sbwt none``.