A busy loop happens when the event loop is blocked by synchronous tasks. To avoid this, break down long-running operations into smaller, asynchronous chunks.

A busy loop in Node.js occurs when a long-running or infinite loop keeps the event loop busy, preventing it from handling other tasks like I/O operations. This can make your application appear frozen or unresponsive, especially when there are no await or setTimeout statements to yield control back to the event loop. To fix this, you need to refactor any blocking synchronous code into smaller, non-blocking chunks. For example, if you’re iterating over a large array or performing a computationally expensive task, you can break it into smaller pieces and use setImmediate() or process.nextTick() to allow the event loop to process other tasks in between iterations. Alternatively, offloading heavy computations to worker threads can help free up the event loop. Profiling tools like 0x or clinic can help identify sections of the code where the event loop is getting blocked. Understanding and avoiding busy loops ensures your application remains responsive even under heavy load.