I am using the EntityManager from javax.persistence in my Spring application, and I am encountering issues with deadlocks when calling the merge method.

Here’s my understanding of the internal workings of EntityManager.merge():

When merge is called, there is an internal SELECT query executed by the ID of the given entity.
The retrieved data is then changed, and finally, an UPDATE statement is executed.
This process is controlled by the @Transactional annotation in Spring.
The problem I am facing is that these internal SELECT queries initiated by the merge method are causing deadlocks in my database. To avoid this, I want to add a NOLOCK hint to the SELECT query. However, I understand that it is not possible to directly modify this internal SELECT query since it is generated by the merge method.

Here are my questions:

Is there a way to modify the behavior of the internal SELECT query generated by EntityManager.merge() to include a NOLOCK hint?
If not, what are some recommended strategies or best practices to avoid deadlocks when using EntityManager.merge() in a high-concurrency environment?
Any insights or alternative approaches to handle this situation would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

If you need additional context, here is a sample of how the merge method is typically used in my code:

@Autowired
private EntityManager entityManager;

@Transactional(isolation = Isolation.READ_COMMITTED)
public MyEntity updateMyEntity(MyEntity entity) {
    return entityManager.merge(entity);
}