- Frontman Nick Jonas has managed type 1 diabetes for two decades.
- The group's “JONAS20: Greetings from Your Hometown Tour” marks its 20th anniversary concurrent with Nick Jonas’s two-decade experience with diabetes.
- Nick Jonas shares how these two anniversaries have impacted his life and how he leverages his music to raise awareness for type 1 diabetes.
This year, the number 20 carries special significance for renowned artist Nick Jonas.
While the band commemorates their 20th year together, 2025 simultaneously signifies 20 years since their frontman's type 1 diabetes diagnosis.
“It’s crazy how it lined up,” Jonas remarked. “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 blessed 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 wonderful and challenging moments living with diabetes. The struggles of managing his condition have been the low points, while advocating and engaging others as a spokesperson and through his foundation have been a source of happiness.
“In summary, I’m really grateful to have been able to be open about [type 1] and to interact with all these amazing people from all regions of the world who are navigating their own diabetes path, and it’s a really big thing to feel like you’re a little less isolated in it,” said Jonas.
Nick Jonas’ A1C Shoutout to His Audience
To show appreciation to supporters, on World Diabetes Day (November 14), he stepped onto the platform during a Jonas Brothers concert and surprised his audience by sharing an uplifting message of hope, accompanied by a shout-out to his A1C.
“My A1C, which is a average of numbers over a three-month period, was the most favorable it’s ever been, actually, most recently,” said Jonas.
The show was attended by members of a global community — a collective of more than 30,000 people globally who discuss their experiences with diabetes to help promote a message of strength, perseverance, and optimism.
“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 personal to me and on World Diabetes Day, I think it’s fitting to get introspective 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 dedicated the song “A Little Bit Longer” — a tune he wrote early in his career and diabetes journey, 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 experiences 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 significance for him as an adult, he said it is still relevant.
“Now I [have] this vast, supportive community that I belong to that has supported me in so many different moments. I think my perspective is perhaps a lot more positive now. It is feasible to live a big, busy life while managing this disease and outlook and perspective and all that is an important piece to powering through.”
Progress in Type 1 Diabetes
Not long ago, life with type 1 diabetes involved more than five daily shots a day and glucose checks 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 lighter and smarter, and eventually learned to ‘talk’ with the glucose monitors,” the expert explained.
“Algorithms began modifying insulin automatically, creating combined ‘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 diagnosed.
“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 therapies aimed at controlling the condition and delaying or modifying the disease itself are in development.
“The first immune-therapy capable of delaying type 1’s start was authorized, and research into protecting or even substituting the body’s insulin-producing cells gained real momentum. In labs around the world, scientists are cultivating lab-grown pancreatic beta cells and testing ways to protect them from the body's defenses,” the doctor continued.
“Smart 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 absolutely continue to develop. We’re no longer just improving tools; we’re getting nearer to changing the disease itself,” the expert concluded.
However, while a family physician agrees that additional innovations will continue to appear, he points out that managing type 1 diabetes remains an demanding task — physically, cognitively, and emotionally.
“I sincerely hope that we’ll see more and more focus to talking about and helping with the burdens and the requirements of having and managing T1D. We need much more of that, too,” he told.
The Singer Employs Personal Wellness to Manage His Diabetes
Beyond medication and technology, Jonas shared some strategies he leans on to handle his diabetes.
First, 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 out of your control 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 soon after his diagnosis.
Lately, he has focused on 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 precisely why, but I just find that hydrating 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 physical, 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 movie location or something,” he said.
He leans on his therapist regularly, too.
“I think it’s really important to do that personal development,” Jonas said.
Above all, he urges everyone managing type 1 diabetes to engage with the diabetes community.
“There will be good days, there will be tough days, but you can scale this mountain, and there’s some incredible people out there whose stories will really motivate anybody that’s going through tough moments,” said Jonas.
