diff --git a/core/autoload/debug.el b/core/autoload/debug.el
index 37c230329..1bcd42b38 100644
--- a/core/autoload/debug.el
+++ b/core/autoload/debug.el
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@
     init-file-debug
     jka-compr-verbose
     url-debug
-    use-package-verbose)
+    use-package-verbose
+    (message-log-max . 16384))
   "A list of variable to toggle on `doom-debug-mode'.
 
 Each entry can be a variable symbol or a cons cell whose CAR is the variable
diff --git a/core/core.el b/core/core.el
index 4a8f88792..15bd13280 100644
--- a/core/core.el
+++ b/core/core.el
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ users).")
 ;;; Emacs core configuration
 
 ;; lo', longer logs ahoy, so to reliably locate lapses in doom's logic later
-(setq message-log-max 8192)
+(setq message-log-max 4096)
 
 ;; Reduce debug output, well, unless we've asked for it.
 (setq debug-on-error doom-debug-p