diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 337078a64..4dcbb76d2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ Some functionality in Hasjob requires the presence of a sub-board named `www`. C
 
 Hasjob requires some tasks to be run in periodic background jobs. These can be called from cron. Use `crontab -e` as the user account running Hasjob and add:
 
-    */10 * * * * cd /path/to/hasjob; python manage.py periodic sessions -e dev
+    */5 * * * * cd /path/to/hasjob; python manage.py periodic sessions -e dev
     */5  * * * * cd /path/to/hasjob; python manage.py periodic impressions -e dev
 
 Switch from `dev` to `production` in a production environment.
diff --git a/hasjob/models/user.py b/hasjob/models/user.py
index a584c28b1..1ebb8d730 100644
--- a/hasjob/models/user.py
+++ b/hasjob/models/user.py
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
+from time import mktime
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
+from uuid import UUID
 from flask import request
 from flask.ext.lastuser.sqlalchemy import UserBase2
 from sqlalchemy_utils.types import UUIDType
@@ -8,6 +10,7 @@
 from coaster.sqlalchemy import JsonDict
 from baseframe import _, cache
 from . import db, BaseMixin
+from .. import redis_store
 
 __all__ = ['User', 'UserActiveAt', 'AnonUser', 'EventSessionBase', 'EventSession', 'UserEventBase', 'UserEvent']
 
@@ -185,9 +188,63 @@ def get_session(cls, uuid, user=None, anon_user=None):
             ues.user = user
             ues.anon_user = anon_user
             db.session.add(ues)
-        ues.active_at = datetime.utcnow()
+        # ues.active_at = datetime.utcnow()
+        session_set_active_at(ues.uuid)
         return ues
 
+    @classmethod
+    def get(cls, uuid):
+        if isinstance(uuid, basestring):
+            uuid = UUID(uuid)
+        return cls.query.filter_by(uuid=uuid).one_or_none()
+
+    @classmethod
+    def all(cls, uuids):
+        uuids = [u if isinstance(u, basestring) else UUID(u) for u in uuids]
+        return cls.query.filter(cls.uuid.in_(uuids))
+
+    @classmethod
+    def close_all_inactive(cls):
+        cls.query.filter(cls.ended_at == None,  # NOQA
+        cls.active_at < (datetime.utcnow() - timedelta(minutes=30))).update(
+        {cls.ended_at: cls.active_at})
+
+
+# These should be class or instance methods
+def session_set_active_at(sessionid):
+    sessionid = unicode(sessionid)  # In case this is a UUID
+    now = datetime.utcnow()
+    active_at = repr(mktime(now.timetuple()) + now.microsecond / 1e6)  # repr has more precision than unicode in Py2
+    redis_store.hset('hasjob/session_active_at', sessionid, active_at)
+
+
+def session_get_active_at(sessionid=None):
+    sessionid = unicode(sessionid)
+    if sessionid:
+        active_at = redis_store.hget('hasjob/session_active_at', sessionid)
+        if active_at:
+            return datetime.fromtimestamp(float(active_at))
+    else:
+        result = redis_store.hgetall('hasjob/session_active_at')
+        for sessionid in result:
+            result[sessionid] = datetime.fromtimestamp(float(result[sessionid]))
+        return result
+
+
+def session_save_active_at(sessionid=None):
+    if sessionid:
+        active_at = session_get_active_at(sessionid)
+        if active_at:
+            session = EventSession.get(sessionid)
+            session.active_at = active_at
+            db.session.commit()
+    else:
+        queue = session.get_active_at()  # Returns a dict of sessionid (as UUID string) to active_at (as datetime)
+        sessions = EventSession.all(queue.keys())
+        for session in sessions:
+            session.active_at = queue[unicode(session.uuid)]
+        db.session.commit()
+
 
 class UserEventBase(object):
     @classmethod
diff --git a/manage.py b/manage.py
index 5bf4295f4..d7864f992 100755
--- a/manage.py
+++ b/manage.py
@@ -7,21 +7,19 @@
 import hasjob.forms as forms
 import hasjob.views as views
 from hasjob.models import db
+from hasjob.models.user import EventSession, session_save_active_at
 from hasjob import app, init_for
-from datetime import datetime, timedelta
 
 periodic = Manager(usage="Periodic tasks from cron (with recommended intervals)")
 
 
 @periodic.option('-e', '--env', default='dev', help="runtime env [default 'dev']")
 def sessions(env):
-    """Sweep user sessions to close all inactive sessions (10m)"""
+    """Update activity timestamps and close inactive sessions (5m)"""
     manager.init_for(env)
-    es = models.EventSession
+    session_save_active_at()
     # Close all sessions that have been inactive for >= 30 minutes
-    es.query.filter(es.ended_at == None,  # NOQA
-        es.active_at < (datetime.utcnow() - timedelta(minutes=30))).update(
-        {es.ended_at: es.active_at})
+    EventSession.close_all_inactive()
     db.session.commit()