I deployed 5 sensebender nodes just after release in 2015, all with 2 AA batteries from ikea.1 died within a couple of years, because it was placed outdoors. But the rest kept going, and all have been going until this year. So 8 years of battery time on one set of batteries..
I think that is excellent battery life..
I mean the ESP framework version, selected by the board version
https://arduino.esp8266.com/Arduino/versions/2.0.0/doc/installing.html#:~:text=Open Boards Manager from Tools,from a drop-down box.
