diff --git a/lib/utils/mu-utils.hh b/lib/utils/mu-utils.hh
index a5e55f0f..63f9f002 100644
--- a/lib/utils/mu-utils.hh
+++ b/lib/utils/mu-utils.hh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-**  Copyright (C) 2017 Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <djcb@djcbsoftware.nl>
+**  Copyright (C) 2020 Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <djcb@djcbsoftware.nl>
 **
 **  This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 **  modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License
@@ -119,15 +119,18 @@ std::string date_to_time_t_string (const std::string& date, bool first);
  */
 std::string date_to_time_t_string (int64_t t);
 
-using SteadyClock  = std::chrono::steady_clock;
+using Clock    = std::chrono::steady_clock;
+using Duration = Clock::duration;
 
-static inline int64_t to_ms (SteadyClock::duration dur) {
-        return std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::milliseconds>(dur).count();
-}
-static inline int64_t to_us (SteadyClock::duration dur) {
-        return std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::microseconds>(dur).count();
+template <typename Unit> constexpr int64_t to_unit (Duration d) {
+        using namespace std::chrono;
+        return duration_cast<Unit>(d).count();
 }
 
+constexpr int64_t to_s  (Duration d) { return to_unit<std::chrono::seconds>(d); }
+constexpr int64_t to_ms (Duration d) { return to_unit<std::chrono::milliseconds>(d); }
+constexpr int64_t to_us (Duration d) { return to_unit<std::chrono::microseconds>(d); }
+
 /**
  * Convert a size string to a size in bytes
  *