falling asleep when head hits the pillow

[hrbowie83]

I immediately fall asleep maybe 5 minutes after my head hits the pillow and I sleep very heavily for up to 10-11 hours.  I've been like this all my life, even as a small baby according to my parents I slept for hours on end and wouldn't even wake up to eat half the time.
I have read that not needing time to "wind down" before falling asleep is a sign of exhaustion. Is this true? How long does it normally take someone to fall asleep after lying down and shutting their eyes?

[SMcGregor]

The mechanism which controls sleep is both “reactive” to our desire to sleep and “responsive” to our body’s need for sleep. If we send the appropriate instructions to our subconscious mind it will begin to shut down our bodily functions and prepare us for sleep. These instructions can be triggered by the appropriate degree of physical fatigue. If we decide to lie down and close our eyes, then our breathing automatically becomes more relaxed and suddenly the subconscious mechanism takes over and we are asleep. Regards,

[flipper336]

I can also fall asleep in maybe 5 minutes as well, and as a kid I use to sleep all the time.
What you read is not necessarily true, it depends on the person.  People can be mentally exhausted, physically exhausted or maybe even both. There have been times where I have be so exhausted that I could not sleep, I would just lay in bed praying I would fall to sleep so I could get some rest. But on the other hand a person can be so exhausted that they are asleep before there head even hits the pillow. There really is no solid answer to your question regarding time also. From what I know and have read the "average" time it takes a person to fall asleep is between 7 and 20 minutes.