- Frontman Nick Jonas has managed type 1 diabetes for 20 years.
- The group's “JONAS20: Greetings from Your Hometown Tour” marks its 20th anniversary alongside Nick Jonas’s two-decade experience with diabetes.
- Nick Jonas discusses how both milestones have impacted 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 together, 2025 also marks 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 blessed to be able to do this for 20 years now and to have the support of the most amazing fans.”
Parallel to the band’s experience over the last two decades, he said he has had great and tough moments living with diabetes. The struggles of controlling his disease have been the lows, while advocating and engaging others through his role and through his non-profit have been a source of happiness.
“In summary, 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 path, and it’s a really big thing to feel like you’re a little less isolated in it,” he added.
Nick Jonas’ A1C Shoutout to Fans
To show appreciation to supporters, on World Diabetes Day (November 14), he stepped onto the platform 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 most favorable it’s ever been, actually, most recently,” he revealed.
The show was visited by members of a worldwide group — a collective of more than 30,000 people globally who discuss their experiences with diabetes to help spread a message of resilience, determination, and positivity.
“It was really meaningful for me to get to use the Jonas Brothers’ stage 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 explore kind of what life looks like for me as a now thirty-three-year-old person living with this condition,” he said.
Jonas offered the song “A Little Bit Longer” — a tune he wrote early in his career and diabetes journey, to those affected by 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 impact it still has to this day with the fan base,” he said.
While the song has assumed a new meaning for him as an adult, he said it is still relevant.
“Now I [have] this great, big community that I belong to 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 full, active life while living with this disease and mindset and viewpoint and all that is an important piece to powering through.”
Progress in Diabetes Management
In the past, 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 vigilance, as stated by a licensed endocrinologist.
“Delivery devices superseded multiple daily insulin injections. With time, insulin pumps became less bulky and smarter, and eventually learned to ‘talk’ with the sensors,” the expert explained.
“Automated systems began adjusting insulin automatically, creating hybrid ‘automated delivery’ systems that lift some of the cognitive load people with type 1 bear 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 directly on 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 being researched.
“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 cultivating lab-grown pancreatic beta cells and testing ways to protect them from the body's defenses,” said the specialist.
“Smart insulin” is also being engineered to become active only when glucose levels increase, offering a future where insulin works as intuitively as the body once did.
“More advancements will absolutely continue to emerge. We’re no longer just enhancing devices; we’re getting closer to changing the disease itself,” the expert concluded.
However, while another medical professional agrees that additional innovations will continue to appear, he points out that managing type 1 diabetes remains an intensive task — physically, cognitively, and psychologically.
“I truly hope that we’ll see more and more focus to talking about and helping with the burdens and the demands of living with and managing T1D. We need far more of that, too,” he commented.
The Singer Employs Personal Wellness to Manage His Diabetes
Beyond medication and technology, Jonas shared some approaches he leans on to handle his diabetes.
To begin, he said he learned to take pressure off himself.
“You’re never going to have the ideal day while managing 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 pause, reset, and know that it’s going to be OK on the other side is really crucial,” he said.
While this is hard to do at times, he said he learned to apply this early during his diagnosis.
Lately, he has prioritized taking vitamins, caring for his skin, and staying hydrated.
“It’s a basic thing, but the more water I drink, my glucose levels are more stable. I don’t know exactly why, but I just find that drinking water has a lot of health benefits,” he noted. “I didn’t put as much emphasis on it earlier in my life as I do now, and it’s been really helpful.”
He also walks daily for 30 minutes or longer for his bodily, cognitive, and psychological 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 inside 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 important to do that self-work,” 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 challenging days, but you can scale this challenge, and there’s some incredible people out there whose stories will really motivate anybody that’s going through difficult times,” he concluded.
