diff --git a/dunst.c b/dunst.c
index 534a6d2..f8f0784 100644
--- a/dunst.c
+++ b/dunst.c
@@ -168,9 +168,7 @@ void history_pop(void)
         n->timeout = settings.sticky_history ? 0 : n->timeout;
         g_queue_push_head(queue, n);
 
-        if (!xctx.visible) {
-                wake_up();
-        }
+        wake_up();
 }
 
 void wake_up(void)
@@ -183,7 +181,7 @@ static int get_sleep_time(void)
 
         if (settings.show_age_threshold == 0) {
                 /* we need to update every second */
-                return 1000;
+                return 1;
         }
 
         bool have_ttl = false;
@@ -195,7 +193,7 @@ static int get_sleep_time(void)
 
                 max_age = MAX(max_age, notification_get_age(n));
                 int ttl = notification_get_ttl(n);
-                if (ttl > 0) {
+                if (ttl >= 0) {
                         if (have_ttl) {
                                 min_ttl = MIN(min_ttl, ttl);
                         } else {
@@ -209,7 +207,7 @@ static int get_sleep_time(void)
         int show_age_timeout = settings.show_age_threshold - max_age;
 
         if (show_age_timeout < 1) {
-                return 1000;
+                return 1;
         }
 
         if (!have_ttl) {
@@ -220,13 +218,9 @@ static int get_sleep_time(void)
 
         /* show_age_timeout might be negative */
         if (min_timeout < 1) {
-                return 1000;
+                return 1;
         } else {
-                /* add 501 milliseconds to make sure we wake are in the second
-                 * after the next notification times out. Otherwise we'll wake
-                 * up, but the notification won't get closed until we get woken
-                 * up again (which might be multiple seconds later */
-                return min_timeout * 1000 + 501;
+                return min_timeout;
         }
 }
 
@@ -253,13 +247,13 @@ gboolean run(void *data)
         }
 
         if (xctx.visible) {
-                int now = time(NULL) * 1000;
+                int now = time(NULL);
                 int sleep = get_sleep_time();
 
                 if (sleep > 0) {
                         int timeout_at = now + sleep;
                         if (timeout_cnt == 0 || timeout_at < next_timeout) {
-                                g_timeout_add(sleep, run, mainloop);
+                                g_timeout_add_seconds(sleep, run, mainloop);
                                 next_timeout = timeout_at;
                                 timeout_cnt++;
                         }
diff --git a/notification.c b/notification.c
index e3d3b47..10cbd11 100644
--- a/notification.c
+++ b/notification.c
@@ -520,7 +520,7 @@ void notification_update_text_to_render(notification *n)
 
 int notification_get_ttl(notification *n) {
         if (n->timeout == 0) {
-                return 0;
+                return -1;
         } else {
                 return n->timeout - (time(NULL) - n->start);
         }