diff --git a/wp-cron.php b/wp-cron.php
index de4050d5bf..20a7e05490 100644
--- a/wp-cron.php
+++ b/wp-cron.php
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ $crons = _get_cron_array();
 $keys = array_keys( $crons );
 
 if (!is_array($crons) || $keys[0] > $local_time) {
-	update_option('doing_cron', 0);
+	set_transient('doing_cron', 0);
 	return;
 }
 
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ foreach ($crons as $timestamp  => $cronhooks) {
 	}
 }
 
-update_option('doing_cron', 0);
+set_transient('doing_cron', 0);
 
 die();
 
diff --git a/wp-includes/cron.php b/wp-includes/cron.php
index 1f72e4f7f2..cd82ae4ee4 100644
--- a/wp-includes/cron.php
+++ b/wp-includes/cron.php
@@ -184,12 +184,12 @@ function spawn_cron( $local_time ) {
 	* multiple processes on multiple web servers can run this code concurrently
 	* try to make this as atomic as possible by setting doing_cron switch
 	*/
-	$flag = get_option('doing_cron');
+	$flag = get_transient('doing_cron');
 
 	// clean up potential invalid value resulted from various system chaos
 	if ( $flag != 0 ) {
 		if ( $flag > $local_time + 10*60 || $flag < $local_time - 10*60 ) {
-			update_option('doing_cron', 0);
+			set_transient('doing_cron', 0);
 			$flag = 0;
 		}
 	}
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ function spawn_cron( $local_time ) {
 	if ( $flag > $local_time )
 		return;
 
-	update_option( 'doing_cron', $local_time + 30 );
+	set_transient( 'doing_cron', $local_time + 30 );
 
 	add_action('wp_head', 'spawn_cron_request');
 }