diff --git a/.env-sample b/.env-sample
index 3c76162..6538c6e 100644
--- a/.env-sample
+++ b/.env-sample
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+# Optional logging settings, see comments after each for more info
+#DEBUG=*  # Enable all logging, including middleware, etc
+#DEBUG=btcexp:*  # Enable all logging specific to btc-rpc-explorer
+#DEBUG=btcexp:app,btcexp:error  # Default logging setting if "DEBUG" is not set
+
 # The active coin: BTC/LTC
 #BTCEXP_COIN=BTC
 
diff --git a/app.js b/app.js
index 13db2ab..514198e 100755
--- a/app.js
+++ b/app.js
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ configPaths.filter(fs.existsSync).forEach(path => {
 // debug module is already loaded by the time we do dotenv.config
 // so refresh the status of DEBUG env var
 var debug = require("debug");
-debug.enable(process.env.DEBUG);
+debug.enable(process.env.DEBUG || "btcexp:app,btcexp:error");
 
 var debugLog = debug("btcexp:app");
 var debugPerfLog = debug("btcexp:actionPerformace");