haha johnChris, I would laugh at me too!
Alex, i've had similar situations but not crying before.
I've had quite frequently in my life those things called "night terrors". There are other names for it but basically they are really intense nightmares. I've researched this topic to see what was going on.
Arc, I've read articles before of the reason "why" physically turning over after having a bad dream keeps you from having bad dreams. That really does work. I've never read anything about moonlight or light causing bad dreams though, will have to research that sometime.
I always sleep on my back. Ever since I can remember... THAT is a big proponent for causing nightmares believe it or not. The position of our bodies as we sleep cause certain chemicals to be released. During sleep, the body goes through a process of chemical checks and functions. Adrenaline gets pumped through the system at certain times while sleeping. That's our "flight or fight" response we feel when in danger. Normally your body does not react to the little bit of adrenaline that gets pumped through your system at night because there is another chemical that disconnects your physical body from moving while subconcious sleep is going on.
However, sometimes during the process of REM sleep where your subconcious is almost to conciousness, adrenaline can pump through your body and this is where people experience those terrible nightmares. They are concious enough to realize they are laying in bed. But as the adrenaline comes through, it's an automatic flight or fight response so your brain automatically conjures up all kinds of images and "bad things" to go with the feeling. I've dreamt that I was pulled off my bed by shadow beings and hauled out of the house. I've dreamt that aliens came and floated my body up and through the cealing, i've dreamt that demons came and sat on my chest so I couldn't breathe or move. It feels real because you know your concious but the brain is making up all kinds of crazy stuff to go with that "flight or fight" feeling.
The bad thing about these dreams is that YOU CANT MOVE. You know your awake, but you can't move your body. That other chemical is still in your system and that's what makes the whole thing extremely scary. Sometimes, I can move a finger, or in my dream i'm screaming, but in real life i'm barely moaning. My wife got so used to it that she would shake me awake so that I would fully wake up.
For a while I used to be really scared of them until I found out the truth of what was going on. Sleeping on your back tends to trigger that gland a certain way, so if I feel like one of those dreams are coming up, I just turn over and nothing happens. Ever since I started to do that, I don't have those dreams anymore.
However, I did have a dream last week that my old pastor from my old church had a check for 35,000 to give us. He said "It's for your house". Even though I thought it was odd as we are not in the market to buy a house right now. Then all of a sudden we were in the physical church and my wife gave the pastor a big hug and looked up at him in adoration because of the check the church gave us (it wasn't a sexual hug). Then I felt obligated that we had to start going back to church because they gave us so much money. I started to shake my head and yelled... NOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo. and then I woke up.