---
title: "Why Can an Async Python Handler Still Block Other Requests?"  
description: "Why Can an Async Python Handler Still Block Other Requests?"  
author: "Khoa Vu"  
published: 2026-10-16  
canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/117672/why-can-an-async-python-handler-still-block-other-requests  
category: "Mix Category"  
tags: ["Python", "Asynchronous programming", "Backend Development"]  
reading_time: 1 minute  

---

# Why Can an Async Python Handler Still Block Other Requests?

I’m trying to understand a slowdown in a small async Python service. One handler makes a request to another API, and while that call is waiting, unrelated requests seem to take longer too.

```python
import requests

async def get_profile(user_id):
    # This synchronous call waits for the remote server and blocks the event loop.
    response = requests.get(f"https://example.com/users/{user_id}")
    # Parse the response after the blocking network call finishes.
    return response.json()
```

I thought marking the function `async` would let the server handle other work during the wait. Is the blocking network call the reason that isn’t happening, or am I missing something about how async handlers are scheduled?


---

Original Source: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/117672/why-can-an-async-python-handler-still-block-other-requests

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