Database deadlock, error 1213

[eluser]little brittle[/eluser]
I am getting an error on my site every now and then with a database deadlock. Here is the complete text of the error:

Code:

Error Number: 1213

Deadlock found when trying to get lock; try restarting transaction

UPDATE `ci_sessions` SET `last_activity` = 1237826089, `session_id` = '330605bba43ff0de03899f68a2de144a' WHERE session_id = 'e64f09136bab7b31ce129084c8453332'

How can I avoid this?