Artherosclerosis

I'm 56 year old male and I suffer from several heart problems. This is present in my family for generations and I think that great deal of it is inherited.
Well, about four weeks ago I had really hard heart attack and thought I'm going to die.
Well, as you see, I didn’t die. I have lived through it but my doctors told me that I have developed some very serious condition called atherosclerosis and I have to quite smoking and alcohol drinking immediately if I want to live.
So, I was wondering what kind of disease this is and how smoking quitting can help me?

Well, it is very difficult to explain real complexness of this disease in a few words.
But, basically, it's the term for the process of fatty substances, cholesterol, cellular waste products, calcium and fibrin (a clotting material in the blood) building up in the inner lining of an artery.
Normal arteries are flexible and elastic because they have to compensate pulsations of heart pressure but atherosclerosis is a general term for the thickening and hardening of arteries.
Atherosclerosis affects large and medium-sized arteries.
You see, smoking and alcohol drinking, beside genetic factor, are the most common factors for developing this disease in late years.
Cigarette smoke greatly aggravates and speeds up the growth of atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries, the aorta and arteries of the legs