diff --git a/lib/dispatcher/client-h1.js b/lib/dispatcher/client-h1.js
index 3895fc5874f..cb51ce2fb27 100644
--- a/lib/dispatcher/client-h1.js
+++ b/lib/dispatcher/client-h1.js
@@ -129,9 +129,17 @@ let currentBufferRef = null
 let currentBufferSize = 0
 let currentBufferPtr = null
 
-const TIMEOUT_HEADERS = 1
-const TIMEOUT_BODY = 2
-const TIMEOUT_IDLE = 3
+const USE_NATIVE_TIMER = 0
+const USE_FAST_TIMER = 1
+
+// Use fast timers for headers and body to take eventual event loop
+// latency into account.
+const TIMEOUT_HEADERS = 2 | USE_FAST_TIMER
+const TIMEOUT_BODY = 4 | USE_FAST_TIMER
+
+// Use native timers to ignore event loop latency for keep-alive
+// handling.
+const TIMEOUT_KEEP_ALIVE = 8 | USE_NATIVE_TIMER
 
 class Parser {
   constructor (client, socket, { exports }) {
@@ -163,14 +171,29 @@ class Parser {
   }
 
   setTimeout (delay, type) {
-    this.timeoutType = type
-    if (delay !== this.timeoutValue) {
-      this.timeout && timers.clearFastTimeout(this.timeout)
-      if (delay) {
-        this.timeout = timers.setFastTimeout(onParserTimeout, delay, new WeakRef(this))
-      } else {
+    // If the existing timer and the new timer are of different timer type
+    // (fast or native) or have different delay, we need to clear the existing
+    // timer and set a new one.
+    if (
+      delay !== this.timeoutValue ||
+      (type & USE_FAST_TIMER) ^ (this.timeoutType & USE_FAST_TIMER)
+    ) {
+      // If a timeout is already set, clear it with clearTimeout of the fast
+      // timer implementation, as it can clear fast and native timers.
+      if (this.timeout) {
+        timers.clearTimeout(this.timeout)
         this.timeout = null
       }
+
+      if (delay) {
+        if (type & USE_FAST_TIMER) {
+          this.timeout = timers.setFastTimeout(onParserTimeout, delay, new WeakRef(this))
+        } else {
+          this.timeout = setTimeout(onParserTimeout, delay, new WeakRef(this))
+          this.timeout.unref()
+        }
+      }
+
       this.timeoutValue = delay
     } else if (this.timeout) {
       // istanbul ignore else: only for jest
@@ -178,6 +201,8 @@ class Parser {
         this.timeout.refresh()
       }
     }
+
+    this.timeoutType = type
   }
 
   resume () {
@@ -625,7 +650,7 @@ function onParserTimeout (parser) {
     if (!paused) {
       util.destroy(socket, new BodyTimeoutError())
     }
-  } else if (timeoutType === TIMEOUT_IDLE) {
+  } else if (timeoutType === TIMEOUT_KEEP_ALIVE) {
     assert(client[kRunning] === 0 && client[kKeepAliveTimeoutValue])
     util.destroy(socket, new InformationalError('socket idle timeout'))
   }
@@ -803,8 +828,8 @@ function resumeH1 (client) {
     }
 
     if (client[kSize] === 0) {
-      if (socket[kParser].timeoutType !== TIMEOUT_IDLE) {
-        socket[kParser].setTimeout(client[kKeepAliveTimeoutValue], TIMEOUT_IDLE)
+      if (socket[kParser].timeoutType !== TIMEOUT_KEEP_ALIVE) {
+        socket[kParser].setTimeout(client[kKeepAliveTimeoutValue], TIMEOUT_KEEP_ALIVE)
       }
     } else if (client[kRunning] > 0 && socket[kParser].statusCode < 200) {
       if (socket[kParser].timeoutType !== TIMEOUT_HEADERS) {