diff --git a/plugins/reddit.js b/plugins/reddit.js
index 6959dfae4..149077ec7 100644
--- a/plugins/reddit.js
+++ b/plugins/reddit.js
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ const log = require('../services/log');
 const utils = require('../services/utils');
 const unescape = require('unescape');
 const attributes = require('../services/attributes');
-const options = require('../services/options');
+const sync_mutex = require('../services/sync_mutex');
+const config = require('../services/config');
 
 const REDDIT_ROOT = 'reddit_root';
 
@@ -106,7 +107,7 @@ async function getDateNoteIdForReddit(dateTimeStr, rootNoteId) {
     return redditDateNoteId;
 }
 
-async function importReddit(accountName, afterId = null) {
+async function importComments(accountName, afterId = null) {
     let rootNoteId = await sql.getFirstValue(`SELECT notes.note_id FROM notes JOIN attributes USING(note_id) 
               WHERE attributes.name = '${REDDIT_ROOT}' AND notes.is_deleted = 0`);
 
@@ -173,38 +174,47 @@ async function importReddit(accountName, afterId = null) {
     if (listing.data.after && importedComments > 0) {
         log.info("Reddit: Importing from next page of comments ...");
 
-        importedComments += await importReddit(accountName, listing.data.after);
+        importedComments += await importComments(accountName, listing.data.after);
     }
 
     return importedComments;
 }
 
+let redditAccounts = [];
+
+async function runImport() {
+    // technically mutex shouldn't be necessary but we want to avoid doing potentially expensive import
+    // concurrently with sync
+    await sync_mutex.doExclusively(async () => {
+        let importedComments = 0;
+
+        for (const account of redditAccounts) {
+            log.info("Reddit: Importing account " + account);
+
+            importedComments += await importComments(account);
+        }
+
+        log.info(`Reddit: Imported ${importedComments} comments.`);
+    });
+}
+
 sql.dbReady.then(async () => {
-    const enabledOption = await options.getOptionOrNull("reddit_enabled");
-    const accountsOption = await options.getOptionOrNull("reddit_accounts");
+    console.log(config);
 
-    if (!enabledOption) {
-        await options.createOption("reddit_enabled", "false", true);
-        await options.createOption("reddit_accounts", "[]", true);
+    if (!config['Reddit'] || !config['Reddit']['enabled'] !== true) {
         return;
     }
 
-    if (enabledOption.opt_value !== "true") {
-        return;
-    }
+    const redditAccountsStr = config['Reddit']['accounts'];
 
-    if (!accountsOption) {
+    if (!redditAccountsStr) {
         log.info("Reddit: No reddit accounts defined in option 'reddit_accounts'");
     }
 
-    const redditAccounts = JSON.parse(accountsOption.opt_value);
-    let importedComments = 0;
+    redditAccounts = redditAccountsStr.split(",").map(s => s.trim());
 
-    for (const account of redditAccounts) {
-        log.info("Reddit: Importing account " + account);
+    const pollingIntervalInSeconds = config['Reddit']['pollingIntervalInSeconds'] || 3600;
 
-        importedComments += await importReddit(account);
-    }
-
-    log.info(`Reddit: Imported ${importedComments} comments.`);
+    setInterval(runImport, pollingIntervalInSeconds * 1000);
+    setTimeout(runImport, 1000);
 });
diff --git a/services/backup.js b/services/backup.js
index 80269921d..f143d4764 100644
--- a/services/backup.js
+++ b/services/backup.js
@@ -23,9 +23,8 @@ async function regularBackup() {
 
 async function backupNow() {
     // we don't want to backup DB in the middle of sync with potentially inconsistent DB state
-    const releaseMutex = await sync_mutex.acquire();
 
-    try {
+    await sync_mutex.doExclusively(async () => {
         const now = utils.nowDate();
 
         const backupFile = dataDir.BACKUP_DIR + "/" + "backup-" + utils.getDateTimeForFile() + ".db";
@@ -37,10 +36,7 @@ async function backupNow() {
         await sql.doInTransaction(async () => {
             await options.setOption('last_backup_date', now);
         });
-    }
-    finally {
-        releaseMutex();
-    }
+    });
 }
 
 async function cleanupOldBackups() {
diff --git a/services/consistency_checks.js b/services/consistency_checks.js
index b49a45afe..9c73a7422 100644
--- a/services/consistency_checks.js
+++ b/services/consistency_checks.js
@@ -217,18 +217,14 @@ async function runAllChecks() {
 async function runChecks() {
     let errorList;
     let elapsedTimeMs;
-    const releaseMutex = await sync_mutex.acquire();
 
-    try {
+    await sync_mutex.doExclusively(async () => {
         const startTime = new Date();
 
         errorList = await runAllChecks();
 
         elapsedTimeMs = new Date().getTime() - startTime.getTime();
-    }
-    finally {
-        releaseMutex();
-    }
+    });
 
     if (errorList.length > 0) {
         log.info(`Consistency checks failed (took ${elapsedTimeMs}ms) with these errors: ` + JSON.stringify(errorList));
diff --git a/services/sync.js b/services/sync.js
index 931bde8c4..6504f13e2 100644
--- a/services/sync.js
+++ b/services/sync.js
@@ -20,25 +20,25 @@ let proxyToggle = true;
 let syncServerCertificate = null;
 
 async function sync() {
-    const releaseMutex = await sync_mutex.acquire();
-
     try {
-        if (!await sql.isDbUpToDate()) {
-            return {
-                success: false,
-                message: "DB not up to date"
-            };
-        }
+        await sync_mutex.doExclusively(async () => {
+            if (!await sql.isDbUpToDate()) {
+                return {
+                    success: false,
+                    message: "DB not up to date"
+                };
+            }
 
-        const syncContext = await login();
+            const syncContext = await login();
 
-        await pushSync(syncContext);
+            await pushSync(syncContext);
 
-        await pullSync(syncContext);
+            await pullSync(syncContext);
 
-        await pushSync(syncContext);
+            await pushSync(syncContext);
 
-        await checkContentHash(syncContext);
+            await checkContentHash(syncContext);
+        });
 
         return {
             success: true
@@ -64,9 +64,6 @@ async function sync() {
             }
         }
     }
-    finally {
-        releaseMutex();
-    }
 }
 
 async function login() {
diff --git a/services/sync_mutex.js b/services/sync_mutex.js
index 0fe21bd98..b68937acc 100644
--- a/services/sync_mutex.js
+++ b/services/sync_mutex.js
@@ -4,5 +4,20 @@
  */
 
 const Mutex = require('async-mutex').Mutex;
+const instance = new Mutex();
 
-module.exports = new Mutex();
\ No newline at end of file
+async function doExclusively(func) {
+    const releaseMutex = await instance.acquire();
+
+    try {
+        await func();
+    }
+    finally {
+        releaseMutex();
+    }
+
+}
+
+module.exports = {
+    doExclusively
+};
\ No newline at end of file