diff --git a/include/seastar/core/thread.hh b/include/seastar/core/thread.hh
index 85750afd0b..14811fb6e4 100644
--- a/include/seastar/core/thread.hh
+++ b/include/seastar/core/thread.hh
@@ -183,13 +183,19 @@ public:
     ///
     /// Useful where we cannot call yield() immediately because we
     /// Need to take some cleanup action first.
-    static bool should_yield();
+    static bool should_yield() {
+        return need_preempt();
+    }
 
     /// \brief Yield if this thread ought to call yield() now.
     ///
     /// Useful where a code does long running computation and does
     /// not want to hog cpu for more then its share
-    static void maybe_yield();
+    static void maybe_yield() {
+        if (should_yield()) [[unlikely]] {
+            yield();
+        }
+    }
 
     static bool running_in_thread() {
         return thread_impl::get() != nullptr;
diff --git a/src/core/thread.cc b/src/core/thread.cc
index c5d81db299..228cea2c66 100644
--- a/src/core/thread.cc
+++ b/src/core/thread.cc
@@ -354,17 +354,6 @@ void thread::yield() {
     thread_impl::get()->yield();
 }
 
-bool thread::should_yield() {
-    return thread_impl::get()->should_yield();
-}
-
-void thread::maybe_yield() {
-    auto tctx = thread_impl::get();
-    if (tctx->should_yield()) {
-        tctx->yield();
-    }
-}
-
 }
 
 /// \endcond