- Lead singer Nick Jonas has managed type 1 diabetes for 20 years.
- The band's “JONAS20: Greetings from Your Hometown Tour” marks its 20th anniversary concurrent with Nick Jonas’s 20-year journey with diabetes.
- Nick Jonas shares how these two anniversaries have influenced his life and how he uses his music to raise awareness for type 1 diabetes.
In 2025, the number 20 holds particular meaning for iconic singer Nick Jonas.
While the band commemorates their 20th year as a band, 2025 also marks 20 years since their frontman's type 1 diabetes discovery.
“It’s crazy how it lined up,” the singer stated. “It’s been a wild journey in both… in the Brothers sense, it’s been the adventure of a lifetime, and we’ve been so fortunate to be able to do this for 20 years now and to have the support of the world’s greatest fans.”
Parallel to the band’s experience over the last two decades, he said he has had wonderful and challenging moments living with diabetes. The struggles of managing his condition have been the lows, while advocating and connecting with others as a spokesperson and through his foundation have brought him joy.
“Overall, I’m really grateful to have been able to be transparent about [type 1] and to interact with all these wonderful people from all regions of the world who are experiencing their own diabetes journey, and it’s a really significant feeling to feel like you’re a little less isolated in it,” said Jonas.
Nick Jonas’ A1C Shoutout to Fans
To thank his fans, on World Diabetes Day (November 14), he stepped onto the platform during a Jonas Brothers concert and surprised his audience by sharing an inspiring message of hope, along with a shout-out to his A1C.
“My A1C, which is a collection of numbers over a 90-day period, was the most favorable it’s ever been, actually, most recently,” said Jonas.
The show was attended by members of a worldwide group — a collective of over 30,000 people globally who discuss their experiences with diabetes to help spread a message of resilience, determination, and optimism.
“It was really special for me to get to use the Jonas Brothers’ platform as a place to speak about something that’s obviously very personal to me and on World Diabetes Day, I think it’s natural to get reflective and to tap into sort of what life looks like for me as a now thirty-three-year-old person managing this disease,” he said.
Jonas offered the song “A Little Bit Longer” — a tune he wrote at the start of his career and diabetes experience, to those living with the disease.
“It’s a really important time for me to get to speak on stage like that and play a song that I wrote about these challenges when I was 14 and to see the impact it still has to this day with the fan base,” he said.
While the song has taken on a new meaning for him as an adult, he said it is still relevant.
“Now I [have] this great, big community that I am part of that has supported me in so many various moments. I think my outlook is possibly a lot more positive now. It is possible to live a full, active life while living with this disease and mindset and viewpoint and all that is an essential piece to powering through.”
Advancements in Diabetes Management
In the past, life with type 1 diabetes involved more than five insulin injections a day and finger sticks 10 or more times daily. This was a never-ending cycle of injections, guesswork, and care, according to a board certified endocrinologist.
“Delivery devices replaced multiple daily insulin injections. With time, insulin pumps became less bulky and smarter, and eventually learned to ‘talk’ with the sensors,” the doctor noted.
“Algorithms began modifying insulin on their own, creating hybrid ‘automated delivery’ systems that lift some of the mental burden people with type 1 bear every day.”
Jonas is impressed with how far technology has advanced since he was first identified.
“The fact that I can receive instant data of my glucose directly on my phone or smart watch or it can be [shared with] my wife or other family members when I am apart from is just an amazing thing,” he said.
Alongside technology, new treatments aimed at controlling the condition and delaying or modifying the disease itself are in development.
“The first immunotherapy capable of delaying type 1’s start was authorized, and research into preserving or even substituting the body’s insulin-producing cells gained real momentum. In labs around the world, scientists are cultivating stem-cell–derived pancreatic beta cells and experimenting with ways to shield them from the body's defenses,” the doctor continued.
“Smart insulin” is also being developed to become active only when blood sugar rises, offering a future where insulin works as naturally as the body once did.
“Further progress will absolutely continue to develop. We’re no longer just enhancing devices; we’re getting closer to transforming the disease itself,” the physician stated.
However, while a family physician concurs that additional innovations will continue to develop, he notes that managing type 1 diabetes remains an demanding undertaking — in terms of health, mentally, and emotionally.
“I sincerely hope that we’ll see more and more focus to talking about and helping with the challenges and the demands of living with and managing T1D. We need far more of that, too,” he commented.
The Singer Employs Self-Care to Manage His Diabetes
Beyond medication and technology, Jonas discussed some strategies he leans on to manage his diabetes.
First, he said he learned to be less hard on himself.
“You’re never going to have the perfect day living with this disease and even if you’re super on top of your diabetes management, there are just things that are a little beyond your influence and being able to take a deep breath, recalibrate, and know that it’s going to be OK on the other side is really important,” he said.
While this is hard to do at times, he said he learned to practice this early during his diagnosis.
Recently, he has prioritized taking vitamins, looking after his skin, and staying well-hydrated.
“It’s a basic thing, but the more water I drink, my glucose levels are more stable. I don’t know precisely why, but I just find that drinking water has a lot of health advantages,” said Jonas. “I didn’t put as much focus on it earlier in my life as I do now, and it’s been really beneficial.”
He also walks daily for 30 minutes or longer for his bodily, mental, and emotional health.
“It really centers me and even when it’s cold out, getting out in the fresh air is really important when a lot of my day, too, is spent indoors for hours at a concert hall or on a film set or something,” he said.
He relies on his therapist frequently, too.
“I think it’s really vital to do that self-work,” Jonas said.
Most of all, he encourages everyone living with type 1 diabetes to take part in the diabetes community.
“There will be good days, there will be challenging days, but you can climb this challenge, and there’s some remarkable people out there whose stories will really inspire anybody that’s going through tough moments,” said Jonas.
