diff --git a/src/cuirass/database.scm b/src/cuirass/database.scm
index 8b83c18..fb037d1 100644
--- a/src/cuirass/database.scm
+++ b/src/cuirass/database.scm
@@ -403,7 +403,9 @@ a critical section that allows database operations to be serialized."
      ;; be costly and may defeat statement caching.
      (parameterize ((%db-channel (make-critical-section db)))
        body ...)
-     (db-close db))))
+     (begin
+       (sqlite-exec db "PRAGMA optimize;")
+       (db-close db)))))
 
 (define* (read-quoted-string #:optional (port (current-input-port)))
   "Read all of the characters out of PORT and return them as a SQL quoted