diff --git a/backend/src/main/resources/application.properties b/backend/src/main/resources/application.properties
index d4eb7df..e96afc2 100644
--- a/backend/src/main/resources/application.properties
+++ b/backend/src/main/resources/application.properties
@@ -4,6 +4,11 @@ quarkus.datasource.username=strichliste
 quarkus.datasource.password=strichliste
 quarkus.datasource.jdbc.url=jdbc:mariadb://localhost:3306/strichliste
 
+# Agroal connection pool – evict stale connections after a DB restart
+quarkus.datasource.jdbc.background-validation-interval=30S
+quarkus.datasource.jdbc.idle-removal-interval=5M
+quarkus.datasource.jdbc.max-lifetime=10M
+
 # Hibernate
 quarkus.hibernate-orm.database.generation=none