SqlException - A transport-level error has occurred when receiving results from the server

I am coding a MVC 5 internet application and I have a recurring task that executes every hour. This task updates some model objects using a DbContext class. The application is deployed as an Azure website.

I am getting the following error every few hours:

System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): A transport-level error has occurred when receiving results from the server. (provider: TCP Provider, error: 0 - The semaphore timeout period has expired.) ---> System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception (0x80004005): The semaphore timeout period has expired

Why is this? Also, how can I prevent this from happening?

Thanks in advance.