diff --git a/src/login/logind-core.c b/src/login/logind-core.c
index af86e92c01..fe95f90f74 100644
--- a/src/login/logind-core.c
+++ b/src/login/logind-core.c
@@ -395,10 +395,14 @@ int manager_get_user_by_pid(Manager *m, pid_t pid, User **ret) {
 int manager_get_idle_hint(Manager *m, dual_timestamp *t) {
         Session *s;
         bool idle_hint;
-        dual_timestamp ts = DUAL_TIMESTAMP_NULL;
+        dual_timestamp ts;
 
         assert(m);
 
+        /* Initialize the baseline timestamp with the time the manager got initialized to avoid reporting
+         * unreasonable large idle periods starting with the Unix epoch. */
+        ts = m->init_ts;
+
         idle_hint = !manager_is_inhibited(m, INHIBIT_IDLE, INHIBIT_BLOCK, t, false, false, 0, NULL);
 
         HASHMAP_FOREACH(s, m->sessions) {
diff --git a/src/login/logind.c b/src/login/logind.c
index f30f7f9370..75474e2c08 100644
--- a/src/login/logind.c
+++ b/src/login/logind.c
@@ -96,6 +96,8 @@ static int manager_new(Manager **ret) {
 
         (void) sd_event_set_watchdog(m->event, true);
 
+        dual_timestamp_get(&m->init_ts);
+
         manager_reset_config(m);
 
         *ret = TAKE_PTR(m);
diff --git a/src/login/logind.h b/src/login/logind.h
index e6a04e0834..787406adac 100644
--- a/src/login/logind.h
+++ b/src/login/logind.h
@@ -139,6 +139,8 @@ struct Manager {
 
         char *efi_loader_entry_one_shot;
         struct stat efi_loader_entry_one_shot_stat;
+
+        dual_timestamp init_ts;
 };
 
 void manager_reset_config(Manager *m);