diff --git a/Changes.md b/Changes.md
index 403d325..3334c44 100644
--- a/Changes.md
+++ b/Changes.md
@@ -26,6 +26,11 @@ Fixed:
 - [pkg,weather,contrib/btc] Allow function call without Awesome
 - [pkg] Use more updated front-ends for Debian/Ubuntu (apt) and Fedora (dnf)
 
+Removed:
+- `helpers.sysctl` and `helpers.sysctl_table` were removed in favour of
+  `helpers.sysctl_async`.
+
+
 # Changes in 2.3.3
 
 Feature: Add battery widget type for OpenBSD
diff --git a/helpers.lua b/helpers.lua
index 3ce5323..f99605c 100644
--- a/helpers.lua
+++ b/helpers.lua
@@ -226,44 +226,6 @@ function helpers.scroll(text, maxlen, widget)
 end
 -- }}}
 
--- {{{ Return result from one sysctl variable as string
-function helpers.sysctl(path)
-    local fd = io.popen("sysctl -n " .. helpers.shellquote(path))
-
-    if not fd then
-        return
-    end
-
-    local ret = fd:read()
-
-    fd:close()
-
-    return ret
-end
---  }}}
-
--- {{{ Return result from multiple sysctl variables as table
-function helpers.sysctl_table(syspath)
-    return setmetatable({ _path = syspath },
-        { __index = function(table, index)
-            local path = "sysctl -n " .. helpers.shellquote(table._path .. "." .. index)
-            local f = io.popen(path)
-            if f then
-                local s = f:read("*all")
-                f:close()
-                if select(2, s:gsub("\n", "\n")) > 1 then
-                    local o = { _path = path}
-                    setmetatable(o, getmetatable(table))
-                    return o
-                else
-                    return s
-                end
-            end
-        end
-    })
-end
--- }}}
-
 -- {{{ Return result from sysctl variable as table (async)
 function helpers.sysctl_async(path_table, parse)
     local ret = {}