Easy Pedaling

It should make it a little easier. 2.44 to 1 decreased to 2 to 1, a 20% improvement.
It would also be 20% slower. You could also check some other things that might be making it hard to pedal. Tire inflation, chain alignments, dragging brake, sticky links or worn bearings might be grinding you down.

I had the same idea when I was putting the engine on my 29" bike. It turned out to be a non problem, the bike is only a bit harder to pedal than it was before the engine went on, but everything is aligned to a tee and I keep the motor's chain a little slack.
Too tight a chain can pre-load the bearings in the engine and rear wheel causing a drag to peddling.

one can get a 39T front gear for most cranks - helps pedaling & allows lower engine mounting for less vibration

Bigger rear or smaller front sprockets will make it easier... what you're doing is changine the ratio the same way you would for an engine except for us, we get the ratios backward... like 1:2 is a lot easier to pedal than 1:2.5... Now the engine needs a LOT more reduction or it'll just bog down so the ratio is 4.4:1 for a 44 tooth rear and a 10 tooth front, multiplied by the internal gearing at the clutch. If we geared the bike for 4.4:1 for the pedals we would be pedaling out hearts out and only going a few mph at best.

4 teeth don't sound like a lot but it'll definitely be noticeable, and the smaller the sprocket was originally, the more noticeable the effect will be

Definitely make a difference

I have used a 36 tooth gold "low rider" steel sprocket on a one piece crank- with a 22 freewheel on the back- but that was a little too big- Not real expensive- I think about $12 a year or three back.

this was after having derailleurs on freewheels on the back- great chain tensioners for the pedal crank that let you easily ignore a motor tensioner-

then I went to 3 piece alloy cranks- one is a 42 and the other a 44 I think- pedal very easy with a 22 on the back- I'm through parking lots or up sidewalks with no effort at all, and easy to pop the clutch and fly.

if you really want to save weight, you can get a tiny 25 or 26 for the front, and then use a 17 or 18 on the back- they're BOTH tiny then and that saves pedal chain and chain weight. A one piece steel Ashtabula crank is not such a weighty liability when you reduce the steel chainwheel weight with only a tiny 25. After 14 years of road cycling in my younger days, weight has always been an obsession I'm afraid. I've had an extra bike set up that way I've never built because I'm slowing down and my two builds are doing great with less use now. It's really too light to try to pedal without a motor- a real granny gear

Below- 25 tooth front on back up Huffy bike- even with some 700 x 32 mm tires this pedals incredibly easy

I think it should fit- 40 x 22 will be an easy pedal- how'd it come out?