I'd be willing to bet that ANY routine, no matter what it was, makes it easier to get out of bed if you stick to it. The trick is to do something enough times (I've heard that you need to do something 11 times in a row to make it a habit) to where it becomes the default behavior, so it actually requires a small amount of work to break the habit.

It's establishing a local minimum of effort you need to apply. The absolute minimum would be staying in bed - no effort required whatsoever. But to get there you need to break the habit you've established, which requires SLIGHTLY more effort than just getting out of bed. The result being you'll stick to the habits you've set up unless you interrupt the subconscious processes that carry them out with your "free won't" (conscious thought).