- Lead singer Nick Jonas has managed type 1 diabetes for two decades.
- The band's “JONAS20: Greetings from Your Hometown Tour” celebrates its 20th anniversary concurrent with Nick Jonas’s 20-year journey with diabetes.
- Nick Jonas discusses how these two anniversaries have influenced his life and how he leverages his music to promote understanding for type 1 diabetes.
In 2025, the number 20 carries special significance for renowned artist Nick Jonas.
As the Jonas Brothers celebrate their 20th year as a band, 2025 simultaneously signifies 20 years since their lead singer's type 1 diabetes diagnosis.
“The alignment is remarkable,” Jonas remarked. “It's been an incredible ride in both… regarding the band, it’s been the ride 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.”
Alongside the band’s experience over the last 20 years, he said he has had great and tough moments managing diabetes. The difficulties of managing his condition have been the low points, while advocating and engaging others through his role and through his foundation have brought him joy.
“Overall, I’m really grateful to have been able to be open about [type 1] and to connect with all these amazing people from all corners of the world who are navigating their own diabetes path, 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 took to the stage during a Jonas Brothers concert and delighted his audience by sharing an inspiring message of hope, along with a shout-out to his A1C.
“My A1C, which is a average of numbers over a three-month period, was the best it’s ever been, actually, most recently,” he revealed.
The show was visited by members of a worldwide group — a network of over 30,000 people globally who share their experiences with diabetes to help promote a message of resilience, determination, and positivity.
“It was really special for me to get to use the Jonas Brothers’ stage as a place to speak about something that’s clearly very important to me and on World Diabetes Day, I think it’s fitting to get introspective and to tap into sort of what life looks like for me as a now thirty-three-year-old person managing this condition,” he said.
Jonas offered the song “A Little Bit Longer” — a tune he wrote early in his career and diabetes experience, to those living with the disease.
“It’s a really significant time for me to get to speak on stage like that and play a song that I wrote about these experiences when I was 14 and to see the effect it still has to this day with the audience,” he said.
While the song has assumed a new significance 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 perhaps a lot more positive now. It is feasible to live a full, active life while managing this disease and outlook and viewpoint and all that is an important piece to persevering.”
Advancements in Type 1 Diabetes
In the past, life with type 1 diabetes involved more than five insulin injections a day and glucose checks 10 or more times each day. This was a never-ending cycle of needles, guesswork, and care, according to a licensed endocrinologist.
“Delivery devices replaced multiple daily insulin injections. With time, insulin pumps became less bulky and smarter, and eventually learned to ‘talk’ with the glucose monitors,” the doctor noted.
“Automated systems began modifying insulin automatically, creating combined ‘artificial pancreas’ systems that lift some of the mental burden people with type 1 bear every day.”
Jonas is impressed with how far technology has improved since he was first diagnosed.
“The fact that I can receive real time readings 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 incredible thing,” he said.
In addition to technology, new treatments aimed at controlling the condition and delaying or modifying the disease itself are being researched.
“The first immune-therapy capable of postponing type 1’s onset 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 growing stem-cell–derived pancreatic beta cells and experimenting with ways to protect them from immune attack,” the doctor continued.
“Responsive insulin” is also being engineered to become active only when glucose levels increase, promising a future where insulin works as intuitively as the body once did.
“Further progress will absolutely continue to emerge. We’re no longer just enhancing devices; we’re getting nearer to transforming the disease itself,” the expert concluded.
However, while a family physician concurs that further advancements will continue to appear, he notes that managing type 1 diabetes remains an demanding undertaking — in terms of health, cognitively, and psychologically.
“I sincerely hope that we’ll see more and more focus to discussing and helping with the challenges and the requirements of living with and managing T1D. We need far more of that, too,” he commented.
The Singer Employs Personal Wellness to Control His Diabetes
In addition to medication and technology, Jonas discussed some strategies he leans on to handle his diabetes.
To begin, he said he learned to be less hard on himself.
“You’re never going to have the ideal 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, reset, and know that it’s going to be OK on the other side is really crucial,” he said.
While this is difficult to do at times, he said he learned to practice this early during his diagnosis.
Lately, he has focused on taking vitamins, looking after his skin, and staying well-hydrated.
“It’s a simple thing, but the more water I drink, my glucose levels are better. I don’t know precisely why, but I just find that drinking water has a lot of health advantages,” he noted. “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, cognitive, and psychological health.
“It really grounds 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 inside for hours at a concert hall or on a film set or something,” he said.
He relies on his therapist regularly, too.
“I think it’s really important to do that self-work,” Jonas said.
Most of all, he encourages everyone living with type 1 diabetes to engage with the diabetes community.
“There will be positive days, there will be tough days, but you can scale this mountain, and there’s some incredible people out there whose experiences will really motivate anybody that’s going through difficult times,” said Jonas.
