diff --git a/telethon/update_state.py b/telethon/update_state.py
index 4f3ebce7..314511d6 100644
--- a/telethon/update_state.py
+++ b/telethon/update_state.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
+import logging
 from collections import deque
 from datetime import datetime
-from threading import RLock, Event
+from threading import RLock, Event, Thread
 
 from .tl import types as tl
 
@@ -11,14 +12,24 @@ class UpdateState:
     """
     def __init__(self, polling):
         self._polling = polling
+        self._workers = 4
+        self._worker_threads = []
+
         self.handlers = []
         self._updates_lock = RLock()
         self._updates_available = Event()
         self._updates = deque()
 
+        self._logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
         # https://core.telegram.org/api/updates
         self._state = tl.updates.State(0, 0, datetime.now(), 0, 0)
 
+        # TODO Rename "polling" to some other variable
+        # that signifies "running background threads".
+        if polling:
+            self._setup_workers()
+
     def can_poll(self):
         """Returns True if a call to .poll() won't lock"""
         return self._updates_available.is_set()
@@ -39,17 +50,74 @@ class UpdateState:
 
         return update
 
+    # TODO How should this be handled with background worker threads?
     def get_polling(self):
         return self._polling
 
     def set_polling(self, polling):
         self._polling = polling
-        if not polling:
+        if polling:
+            self._setup_workers()
+        else:
             with self._updates_lock:
                 self._updates.clear()
+            self._stop_workers()
 
     polling = property(fget=get_polling, fset=set_polling)
 
+    def get_workers(self):
+        return self._workers
+
+    def set_workers(self, n):
+        self._stop_workers()
+        self._workers = n
+        self._setup_workers()
+
+    workers = property(fget=get_workers, fset=set_workers)
+
+    def _stop_workers(self):
+        """Raises "StopIterationException" on the worker threads to stop them,
+           and also clears all of them off the list
+        """
+        if self._worker_threads:
+            pass
+
+        self.set_error(StopIteration())
+        for t in self._worker_threads:
+            t.join()
+
+        self._worker_threads.clear()
+
+    def _setup_workers(self):
+        if self._worker_threads:
+            # There already are workers
+            return
+
+        for i in range(self._workers):
+            thread = Thread(
+                target=UpdateState._worker_loop,
+                name='UpdateWorker{}'.format(i),
+                daemon=True,
+                args=(self, i)
+            )
+            self._worker_threads.append(thread)
+            thread.start()
+
+    def _worker_loop(self, wid):
+        while True:
+            try:
+                update = self.poll()
+                # TODO Maybe people can add different handlers per update type
+                for handler in self.handlers:
+                    handler(update)
+            except StopIteration:
+                break
+            except Exception as e:
+                # We don't want to crash a worker thread due to any reason
+                self._logger.debug(
+                    '[ERROR] Unhandled exception on worker {}'.format(wid), e
+                )
+
     def set_error(self, error):
         """Sets an error, so that the next call to .poll() will raise it.
            Can be (and is) used to pass exceptions between threads.
@@ -85,6 +153,3 @@ class UpdateState:
             if self._polling:
                 self._updates.append(update)
                 self._updates_available.set()
-
-        for handler in self.handlers:
-            handler(update)