- Frontman Nick Jonas has managed type 1 diabetes for 20 years.
- The band's “Anniversary Tour” celebrates its 20th anniversary concurrent with Nick Jonas’s two-decade experience with diabetes.
- Nick Jonas discusses how both milestones have influenced his life and how he uses his music to raise awareness for type 1 diabetes.
This year, the number 20 carries particular meaning for renowned artist Nick Jonas.
While the band commemorates their 20th year together, 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 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.”
Alongside the band’s experience over the last 20 years, he said he has had great and tough moments managing diabetes. The difficulties of controlling his disease have been the low points, while raising awareness and engaging others through his role and through his foundation have been a source of happiness.
“Overall, I’m really grateful 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 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 took to the stage during a Jonas Brothers concert and surprised his audience by sharing an uplifting message of hope, along with 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,” he revealed.
The show was attended by members of a worldwide group — a collective of over 30,000 people globally who share their experiences with diabetes to help spread a message of strength, 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 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 33-year-old person managing this disease,” he said.
Jonas offered the song “A Little Bit Longer” — a melody he wrote at the start of his career and diabetes experience, 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 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 various moments. I think my perspective is perhaps a lot more optimistic now. It is feasible to live a full, active life while managing this disease and mindset and perspective and all that is an essential piece to powering through.”
Advancements in Type 1 Diabetes
In the past, life with type 1 diabetes involved more than five daily shots a day and finger sticks 10 or more times each day. This was a constant cycle of needles, guesswork, and vigilance, according to a board certified endocrinologist.
“Delivery devices superseded multiple daily insulin injections. With time, insulin pumps became lighter and smarter, and eventually learned to ‘communicate’ with the glucose monitors,” the expert explained.
“Automated systems began modifying insulin on their own, creating combined ‘automated delivery’ systems that alleviate some of the mental burden people with type 1 carry every day.”
Jonas is amazed with how far technology has advanced since he was first identified.
“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 who I’m traveling away from is just an incredible thing,” he said.
In addition to technology, new treatments aimed at controlling the condition and slowing or altering the disease itself are in development.
“The first immunotherapy capable of delaying type 1’s start was authorized, and research into protecting or even replacing the body’s insulin-producing cells acquired real momentum. In labs around the world, scientists are cultivating stem-cell–derived pancreatic beta cells and experimenting with ways to shield them from immune attack,” the doctor continued.
“Smart insulin” is also being engineered to become active only when glucose levels rises, promising a future where insulin works as intuitively as the body once did.
“Further progress will definitely continue to develop. We’re no longer just enhancing devices; we’re getting closer to transforming the disease itself,” the physician stated.
However, while a family physician concurs that additional innovations will continue to appear, he points out that managing type 1 diabetes remains an demanding undertaking — physically, cognitively, and emotionally.
“I truly hope that we’ll see more and more attention to discussing and addressing the challenges and the demands of having and managing T1D. We need far more of that, too,” he commented.
The Singer Employs Personal Wellness to Manage His Diabetes
In addition to medication and technology, Jonas shared some approaches he relies 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 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, looking after 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 benefits,” he noted. “I didn’t put as much emphasis on it when I was younger as I do now, and it’s been really beneficial.”
He also takes walks daily for 30 minutes or longer for his bodily, 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 inside for hours at a venue or on a movie location or something,” he said.
He relies on his therapist regularly, too.
“I think it’s really vital to do that self-work,” 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 scale this mountain, and there’s some remarkable people out there whose stories will really motivate anybody that’s going through difficult times,” he concluded.
