- Frontman Nick Jonas has managed type 1 diabetes for two decades.
- The band's “JONAS20: Greetings from Your Hometown Tour” marks its 20th anniversary alongside Nick Jonas’s 20-year journey with diabetes.
- Nick Jonas shares how these two anniversaries have impacted his life and how he uses his music to promote understanding for type 1 diabetes.
In 2025, the number 20 holds special significance for renowned artist Nick Jonas.
While the band commemorates their 20th year as a band, 2025 also marks 20 years since their lead singer's type 1 diabetes diagnosis.
“It’s crazy how it lined up,” Jonas remarked. “It’s been a wild journey 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 most amazing fans.”
Alongside the band’s experience over the last 20 years, he said he has had wonderful and challenging moments managing diabetes. The struggles of controlling his disease have been the lows, while advocating and connecting with 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 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 Fans
To thank his fans, 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, along with 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, in fact, most recently,” he revealed.
The show was attended by members of a global community — a network of over 30,000 people globally who share their experiences with diabetes to help promote a message of resilience, determination, 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 obviously very important to me and on World Diabetes Day, I think it’s natural to get introspective and to explore sort of what life looks like for me as a now thirty-three-year-old person living with this disease,” he said.
Jonas dedicated the song “A Little Bit Longer” — a melody he wrote at the start of 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 challenges when I was 14 and to see the effect it still has to this day with the fan base,” he said.
While the song has taken on 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 lifted me up in so many various moments. I think my perspective is possibly a lot more positive now. It is possible to live a full, active life while living with this disease and outlook and viewpoint and all that is an important piece to persevering.”
Progress in Diabetes Management
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, estimation, and vigilance, as stated by a licensed endocrinologist.
“Insulin pumps superseded multiple daily insulin injections. With time, insulin pumps became lighter and more advanced, and eventually learned to ‘talk’ with the glucose monitors,” the doctor noted.
“Algorithms began modifying insulin on their own, creating hybrid ‘automated delivery’ systems that lift some of the cognitive load 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 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.
Alongside technology, new therapies aimed at controlling the condition and delaying or altering the disease itself are in development.
“The first immunotherapy capable of postponing type 1’s start was authorized, and research into protecting or even replacing the body’s insulin-producing cells acquired real traction. In labs around the world, scientists are cultivating 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 blood sugar increase, promising a future where insulin works as intuitively as the body once did.
“Further progress will absolutely continue to develop. We’re no longer just improving tools; we’re getting closer to changing the disease itself,” the expert concluded.
Nevertheless, while another medical professional concurs that further advancements will continue to develop, he points out that managing type 1 diabetes remains an intensive undertaking — in terms of health, cognitively, and psychologically.
“I truly hope that we’ll see more and more attention to discussing and addressing the burdens and the demands of having and managing T1D. We need much more of that, too,” he commented.
Jonas Turns to Self-Care to Manage His Diabetes
Beyond medication and technology, Jonas shared some approaches he leans on to manage his diabetes.
First, 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 out of your control 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 hard to do at times, he said he learned to practice this soon after his diagnosis.
Lately, he has focused on taking vitamins, caring for 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 exactly why, but I just find that drinking water has a lot of health benefits,” said Jonas. “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 walks daily for 30 minutes or longer for his physical, cognitive, and emotional 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 indoors for hours at a venue or on a film set or something,” he said.
He leans on his therapist regularly, too.
“I think it’s really important to do that self-work,” Jonas said.
Above all, he urges everyone living with type 1 diabetes to take part in the diabetes community.
“There will be good days, there will be challenging 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 tough moments,” he concluded.
