diff --git a/src/system_wrappers/interface/sleep.h b/src/system_wrappers/interface/sleep.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..735efefcc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/system_wrappers/interface/sleep.h
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+/*
+ *  Copyright (c) 2012 The WebRTC project authors. All Rights Reserved.
+ *
+ *  Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license
+ *  that can be found in the LICENSE file in the root of the source
+ *  tree. An additional intellectual property rights grant can be found
+ *  in the file PATENTS.  All contributing project authors may
+ *  be found in the AUTHORS file in the root of the source tree.
+ */
+// An OS-independent sleep function.
+
+namespace webrtc {
+
+// This function sleeps for the specified number of milliseconds.
+// It may return early if the thread is woken by some other event,
+// such as the delivery of a signal on Unix.
+void SleepMs(int msecs);
+
+}  // namespace webrtc
diff --git a/src/system_wrappers/source/Android.mk b/src/system_wrappers/source/Android.mk
index 08c6827905..dee84ca294 100644
--- a/src/system_wrappers/source/Android.mk
+++ b/src/system_wrappers/source/Android.mk
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ LOCAL_SRC_FILES := \
     cpu_linux.cc \
     critical_section_posix.cc \
     event_posix.cc \
+    sleep.cc \
     thread_posix.cc \
     trace_posix.cc \
     rw_lock_posix.cc 
diff --git a/src/system_wrappers/source/sleep.cc b/src/system_wrappers/source/sleep.cc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..be8523857c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/system_wrappers/source/sleep.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+/*
+ *  Copyright (c) 2012 The WebRTC project authors. All Rights Reserved.
+ *
+ *  Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license
+ *  that can be found in the LICENSE file in the root of the source
+ *  tree. An additional intellectual property rights grant can be found
+ *  in the file PATENTS.  All contributing project authors may
+ *  be found in the AUTHORS file in the root of the source tree.
+ */
+// An OS-independent sleep function.
+
+#include "system_wrappers/interface/sleep.h"
+
+#ifdef _WIN32
+// For Sleep()
+#include <windows.h>
+#else
+// For nanosleep()
+#include <time.h>
+#endif
+
+namespace webrtc {
+
+void SleepMs(int msecs) {
+#ifdef _WIN32
+  Sleep(msecs);
+#else
+  struct timespec short_wait;
+  struct timespec remainder;
+  short_wait.tv_sec = msecs / 1000;
+  short_wait.tv_nsec = (msecs % 1000) * 1000 * 1000;
+  nanosleep(&short_wait, &remainder);
+#endif
+}
+
+}  // namespace webrtc
diff --git a/src/system_wrappers/source/system_wrappers.gyp b/src/system_wrappers/source/system_wrappers.gyp
index dbbf2cfdd1..a9286e7b29 100644
--- a/src/system_wrappers/source/system_wrappers.gyp
+++ b/src/system_wrappers/source/system_wrappers.gyp
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
         '../interface/rw_lock_wrapper.h',
         '../interface/scoped_ptr.h',
         '../interface/scoped_refptr.h',
+        '../interface/sleep.h',
         '../interface/sort.h',
         '../interface/static_instance.h',
         '../interface/thread_wrapper.h',
@@ -88,6 +89,7 @@
         'rw_lock_posix.h',
         'rw_lock_win.cc',
         'rw_lock_win.h',
+        'sleep.cc',
         'sort.cc',
         'thread.cc',
         'thread_posix.cc',
diff --git a/src/system_wrappers/source/trace_impl.cc b/src/system_wrappers/source/trace_impl.cc
index 5600d3944a..b1b4f6fd4f 100644
--- a/src/system_wrappers/source/trace_impl.cc
+++ b/src/system_wrappers/source/trace_impl.cc
@@ -17,11 +17,12 @@
 #include "trace_win.h"
 #else
 #include <stdio.h>
-#include <time.h>
 #include <stdarg.h>
 #include "trace_posix.h"
 #endif // _WIN32
 
+#include "system_wrappers/interface/sleep.h"
+
 #define KEY_LEN_CHARS 31
 
 #ifdef _WIN32
@@ -108,14 +109,7 @@ bool TraceImpl::StopThread()
     // TODO (hellner): why not use condition variables to do this? Or let the
     //                 worker thread die and let this thread flush remaining
     //                 messages?
-#ifdef _WIN32
-    Sleep(10);
-#else
-    timespec t;
-    t.tv_sec = 0;
-    t.tv_nsec = 10*1000000;
-    nanosleep(&t,NULL);
-#endif
+    SleepMs(10);
 
     _thread.SetNotAlive();
     // Make sure the thread finishes as quickly as possible (instead of having