Question

I’m not a AutoHotKey guru, and I’m having trouble with decrementing a variable if it is above 0 once per second:

Loop
{
If spaceFreq > 0
    spaceFreq--
If returnFreq > 0
    returnFreq--
Sleep, 1000
}

What is the problem with this script? The variables are not being reduced.

Answer 1

to decrement a value and store the result back in the same variable directly,
you must do
ex: Var := --x instead of Var := x--
because --x decrements X immediately and then assigns its value to Var
x-- increments X only after assigning the current value of X to Var consequently, 
not modifying the original variable, if no variable is specified.

Read more here about decrementing…
I suggest using SetTimer, instead of a loop and sleep..

ex:

#Persistent
SetTimer, decrementlabel, 1000 ;1000 ms = 1 second
return

decrementlabel:
If spaceFreq > 0
   --spaceFreq
If returnFreq > 0
   --returnFreq
return