Does it help if you baby them? I get to worrying about them as they become elderly and do things like 'fly' them around to save on walking. If they are trudging painfully toward the waterfall, I give them a lift there and back. Then I send them down for a nice long bath. I set them to work at something 'easy' like science or healing or just let them wander. I even let my 68 year old 'have a little fun' before he went. (It was the last thing he did, but his little skull was grinning!)
None of this probably makes a darn bit of difference as far as longevity, but I get to feel as though I am a loving and kind goddess to my people. Plus, it is too painful to watch them struggle to walk. I'm only a few years short of knee and/or hip replacement myself!
Serious question: Does it make ANY difference whether you work your villagers hard (even refusing the food and water breaks) or give them a life of ease, say motherhood and studying medicine? Is the game designed to consider 'wear and tear' on a body or is the lifespan determined from the start? I'll still be sweet to my elderly and show tough love to my stubborn couch potatoes, but it would be nice to know if that affects anything other than my own ego.
Can they die of neglect when their goddess spends too long at the forum after cranking them up to high speed? Um...gotta go!