Wales face Fiji on Thursday having had only four days to recover from their bruising win against England.
Gatland will not use it as an excuse during this World Cup but believes it is an issue which needs to be addressed in the long term.
"It's something we all need to be aware of because it's a pretty brutal game at the moment," he said.
"It's important we consider and look after the welfare of our players as well.
"I'm not complaining about the short turnaround because we've known about that for a long time. We've had to prepare for that."