diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst
index 8290177b4f75..b325bfbc2611 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst
@@ -131,6 +131,12 @@ to latency spikes in unsuspecting applications. The kernel employs
 various heuristics to avoid wasting CPU cycles if it detects that
 proactive compaction is not being effective.
 
+Setting the value above 80 will, in addition to lowering the acceptable level
+of fragmentation, make the compaction code more sensitive to increases in
+fragmentation, i.e. compaction will trigger more often, but reduce
+fragmentation by a smaller amount.
+This makes the fragmentation level more stable over time.
+
 Be careful when setting it to extreme values like 100, as that may
 cause excessive background compaction activity.
 
diff --git a/mm/compaction.c b/mm/compaction.c
index f9ee06d55726..fe51a73b91a7 100644
--- a/mm/compaction.c
+++ b/mm/compaction.c
@@ -2249,10 +2249,11 @@ static unsigned int fragmentation_score_node(pg_data_t *pgdat)
 
 static unsigned int fragmentation_score_wmark(bool low)
 {
-	unsigned int wmark_low;
+	unsigned int wmark_low, leeway;
 
 	wmark_low = 100U - sysctl_compaction_proactiveness;
-	return low ? wmark_low : min(wmark_low + 10, 100U);
+	leeway = min(10U, wmark_low / 2);
+	return low ? wmark_low : min(wmark_low + leeway, 100U);
 }
 
 static bool should_proactive_compact_node(pg_data_t *pgdat)