- 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 20-year journey with diabetes.
- Nick Jonas discusses how these two anniversaries have influenced his life and how he uses his music to raise awareness for type 1 diabetes.
This year, the number 20 holds special significance for iconic singer 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,” the singer stated. “It's been an incredible ride in both… regarding the band, 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.”
Parallel to 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 connecting with others through his role 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 connect with all these wonderful people from all corners of the world who are experiencing their own diabetes journey, and it’s a really big thing to feel like you’re a little less isolated in it,” said Jonas.
The Singer's A1C Announcement 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 inspiring message of hope, accompanied by a shout-out to his A1C.
“My A1C, which is a collection of numbers over a three-month period, was the best it’s ever been, in fact, most recently,” said Jonas.
The show was visited by members of a global community — a collective of over 30,000 people globally who discuss their experiences with diabetes to help spread a message of strength, perseverance, and optimism.
“It was really meaningful 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 explore sort 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 early in his career and diabetes journey, to those affected by 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 audience,” 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 lifted me up in so many various moments. I think my perspective is perhaps a lot more positive now. It is possible 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 Diabetes Management
In the past, life with type 1 diabetes meant more than five insulin injections a day and glucose checks 10 or more times daily. This was a constant cycle of needles, estimation, 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 glucose monitors,” the doctor noted.
“Algorithms began adjusting insulin on their own, creating hybrid ‘artificial pancreas’ systems that lift some of the cognitive load 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 instant data of my glucose straight to 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.
Alongside technology, new treatments aimed at controlling the condition and delaying or modifying the disease itself are being researched.
“The first immunotherapy capable of delaying type 1’s onset was authorized, and research into protecting or even replacing the body’s insulin-producing cells gained real momentum. In labs around the world, scientists are growing lab-grown pancreatic beta cells and testing ways to shield them from immune attack,” the doctor continued.
“Smart insulin” is also being developed to activate only when glucose levels rises, offering a future where insulin works as intuitively as the body once did.
“More advancements will definitely continue to emerge. We’re no longer just enhancing devices; 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 intensive undertaking — in terms of health, mentally, and emotionally.
“I truly hope that we’ll see more and more attention to talking about and addressing the burdens and the demands of having and managing T1D. We need much more of that, too,” he told.
Jonas Turns to Personal Wellness to Control His Diabetes
In addition to medication and technology, Jonas discussed some approaches he relies on to manage 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 very diligent with 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.
Recently, he has focused on taking vitamins, caring for 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 emphasis on it when I was younger as I do now, and it’s been really helpful.”
He also walks daily for 30 minutes or longer for his bodily, mental, and psychological health.
“It really centers me and even when it’s cold out, getting out in the open air is really important when a lot of my day, too, is spent indoors for hours at a venue 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 self-work,” Jonas said.
Most of all, he encourages everyone living with type 1 diabetes to engage with the diabetes community.
“There will be good days, there will be tough days, but you can climb this mountain, and there’s some remarkable people out there whose stories will really motivate anybody that’s going through difficult times,” he concluded.
