- Lead singer Nick Jonas has been living with type 1 diabetes for two decades.
- The band's “JONAS20: Greetings from Your Hometown Tour” celebrates its 20th anniversary concurrent with Nick Jonas’s two-decade experience with diabetes.
- Nick Jonas shares how these two anniversaries have influenced his life and how he leverages his music to promote understanding for type 1 diabetes.
This year, the number 20 carries particular meaning for renowned artist Nick Jonas.
As the Jonas Brothers celebrate their 20th year together, 2025 simultaneously signifies 20 years since their frontman's type 1 diabetes diagnosis.
“The alignment is remarkable,” Jonas remarked. “It's been an incredible ride in both… in the Brothers sense, 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 two decades, he said he has had great and tough moments living with diabetes. The difficulties of controlling his disease have been the low points, while advocating and connecting with others as a spokesperson and through his foundation have brought him joy.
“Overall, I’m really thankful to have been able to be open about [type 1] and to interact with all these wonderful people from all corners 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 alone in it,” said Jonas.
Nick Jonas’ A1C Shoutout to His Audience
To show appreciation to supporters, on World Diabetes Day (November 14), he took to the stage during a Jonas Brothers concert and delighted his audience by sharing an uplifting message of hope, accompanied by a mention to his A1C.
“My A1C, which is a collection of numbers over a 90-day period, was the best it’s ever been, actually, most recently,” he revealed.
The show was visited by members of a worldwide group — a collective of over 30,000 people globally who share their experiences with diabetes to help promote a message of strength, 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 clearly very important to me and on World Diabetes Day, I think it’s natural to get reflective and to explore kind of what life looks like for me as a now 33-year-old person living with this disease,” he said.
Jonas offered the song “A Little Bit Longer” — a tune he wrote at the start of his career and diabetes journey, 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 challenges when I was 14 and to see the effect it still has to this day with the audience,” he said.
While the song has taken on a new significance for him as an adult, he said it is still pertinent.
“Now I [have] this great, big community that I am part of that has supported me in so many different moments. I think my perspective is possibly a lot more optimistic now. It is feasible to live a big, busy life while living with this disease and outlook and viewpoint and all that is an essential piece to powering through.”
Progress in Type 1 Diabetes
In the past, life with type 1 diabetes meant more than five daily shots a day and finger sticks 10 or more times daily. This was a never-ending cycle of needles, 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 ‘communicate’ with the glucose monitors,” the doctor noted.
“Automated systems began adjusting insulin on their own, creating hybrid ‘automated delivery’ systems that lift some of the mental burden people with type 1 carry every day.”
Jonas is amazed with how far technology has improved since he was first diagnosed.
“The fact that I can receive real time readings of my glucose straight to my phone or smart watch or it can be [shared with] my wife or other family members who I’m traveling away from is just an incredible thing,” he said.
In addition to technology, new treatments aimed at managing diabetes and delaying or altering the disease itself are in development.
“The first immunotherapy capable of postponing type 1’s start was approved, and research into protecting or even replacing 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 shield them from the body's defenses,” said the specialist.
“Responsive insulin” is also being developed to become active only when glucose levels increase, promising a future where insulin works as intuitively as the body once did.
“More advancements will definitely continue to develop. We’re no longer just improving tools; we’re getting closer to transforming the disease itself,” the physician stated.
However, while a family physician agrees that additional innovations will continue to develop, he notes that managing type 1 diabetes remains an demanding task — in terms of health, mentally, and emotionally.
“I sincerely hope that we’ll see more and more focus to discussing and helping with the challenges and the demands of living with and managing T1D. We need much more of that, too,” he told.
The Singer Employs Self-Care to Control His Diabetes
Beyond medication and technology, Jonas shared some approaches he relies on to handle his diabetes.
To begin, he said he learned to be less hard on himself.
“You’re never going to have the perfect day while managing this disease and even if you’re very diligent with 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 important,” he said.
While this is hard to do at times, he said he learned to apply this soon after his diagnosis.
Lately, he has prioritized taking vitamins, looking after his skin, and staying hydrated.
“It’s a simple thing, but the more water I drink, my glucose levels are better. I don’t know exactly why, but I just find that hydrating has a lot of health advantages,” he noted. “I didn’t put as much emphasis on it earlier in my life as I do now, and it’s been really beneficial.”
He also takes walks daily for 30 minutes or longer for his physical, cognitive, and emotional 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 vital to do that personal development,” Jonas said.
Above all, he encourages everyone managing type 1 diabetes to engage with the diabetes community.
“There will be positive days, there will be tough days, but you can climb this mountain, and there’s some remarkable people out there whose stories will really inspire anybody that’s going through difficult times,” he concluded.
