diff --git a/httprl.module b/httprl.module
index e2180ce..0151e10 100644
--- a/httprl.module
+++ b/httprl.module
@@ -336,6 +336,7 @@ function httprl_set_default_options(&$options) {
     'chunk_size_read' => 32768,
     'chunk_size_write' => 1024,
     'async_connect' => TRUE,
+    'ping_db' => 20,
   );
 
   // Adjust Time To First Byte Timeout if timeout is large and ttfb is default.
@@ -901,6 +902,9 @@ function httprl_establish_stream_connection(&$result) {
  *   - stall_fread: TRUE or FALSE. If true once all fwrites have been done
  *     httprl_send_request() will return. You will need to call
  *     httprl_send_request() a second time to read the responses back.
+ *   - ping_db: After X amount of time, ping the DB with a simple query in order
+ *     to keep the connection alive. Default is every 20 seconds. Set to 0 to
+ *     disable.
  *
  * @return array
  *   Array where key is the URL and the value is the return value from
@@ -1073,6 +1077,9 @@ function httprl_send_request($results = NULL) {
 
   // Record start time.
   $start_time_this_run = $start_time_global = microtime(TRUE);
+  // Record the number of db pings done.
+  $ping_db_counts = array();
+  $full_bootstrap = httprl_drupal_full_bootstrap();
 
   // Run the loop as long as we have a stream to read/write to.
   $stream_select_timeout = 1;
@@ -1094,6 +1101,19 @@ function httprl_send_request($results = NULL) {
     $start_time_this_run = $now;
     $global_time = $global_timeout - ($start_time_this_run - $start_time_global);
 
+    // See if the DB needs to be pinged.
+    $rounded_time = floor($elapsed_time);
+    if (   $full_bootstrap
+        && !empty($result->options['ping_db'])
+        && $rounded_time >= $result->options['ping_db']
+        && $rounded_time % $result->options['ping_db'] == 0
+        && empty($ping_db_counts[$rounded_time])
+          ) {
+      $empty_array = array();
+      system_get_files_database($empty_array, 'ping_db');
+      $ping_db_counts[$rounded_time] = 1;
+    }
+
     // Inspect each stream, checking for timeouts and connection limits.
     foreach ($responses as $id => &$result) {
       // See if function timed out.