diff --git a/nginx/nginx.conf b/nginx/nginx.conf
index d96e058..94aa346 100644
--- a/nginx/nginx.conf
+++ b/nginx/nginx.conf
@@ -73,7 +73,8 @@ http {
     if_modified_since before;
 
     aio threads;
-    aio_write on;
+    # temporarily disabled since it appears to uncover a bug with how nginx and synapse interact
+    #aio_write on;
 
     upstream backend {
         server [::1]:8008 fail_timeout=1s;