diff --git a/etcdserver/metrics.go b/etcdserver/metrics.go
index 4e1d189eb..6bdc0a7a6 100644
--- a/etcdserver/metrics.go
+++ b/etcdserver/metrics.go
@@ -48,6 +48,12 @@ var (
 		Name:      "heartbeat_failures_total",
 		Help:      "The total number of heartbeat send failures (likely overloaded from slow disk).",
 	})
+	slowApplies = prometheus.NewCounter(prometheus.CounterOpts{
+		Namespace: "etcd",
+		Subsystem: "server",
+		Name:      "slow_apply_total",
+		Help:      "The total number of slow apply requests (likely overloaded from slow disk).",
+	})
 	proposalsCommitted = prometheus.NewGauge(prometheus.GaugeOpts{
 		Namespace: "etcd",
 		Subsystem: "server",
@@ -92,6 +98,7 @@ func init() {
 	prometheus.MustRegister(isLeader)
 	prometheus.MustRegister(leaderChanges)
 	prometheus.MustRegister(heartbeatFailures)
+	prometheus.MustRegister(slowApplies)
 	prometheus.MustRegister(proposalsCommitted)
 	prometheus.MustRegister(proposalsApplied)
 	prometheus.MustRegister(proposalsPending)
diff --git a/etcdserver/util.go b/etcdserver/util.go
index 3a12a4be4..e05884f59 100644
--- a/etcdserver/util.go
+++ b/etcdserver/util.go
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ func warnOfExpensiveGenericRequest(lg *zap.Logger, now time.Time, stringer fmt.S
 	if d > warnApplyDuration {
 		if lg != nil {
 			lg.Warn(
-				"request took too long",
+				"apply request took too long",
 				zap.Duration("took", d),
 				zap.Duration("expected-duration", warnApplyDuration),
 				zap.String("prefix", prefix),
@@ -122,5 +122,6 @@ func warnOfExpensiveGenericRequest(lg *zap.Logger, now time.Time, stringer fmt.S
 		} else {
 			plog.Warningf("%srequest %q took too long (%v) to execute", prefix, stringer.String(), d)
 		}
+		slowApplies.Inc()
 	}
 }