- Lead singer Nick Jonas has been living with type 1 diabetes for 20 years.
- The band's “Anniversary 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 uses his music to raise awareness for type 1 diabetes.
In 2025, the number 20 holds special significance for renowned artist Nick Jonas.
While the band commemorates their 20th year together, 2025 also marks 20 years since their frontman's type 1 diabetes discovery.
“It’s crazy how it lined up,” the singer stated. “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 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 raising awareness and engaging others as a spokesperson and through his non-profit have brought him joy.
“Overall, I’m really thankful to have been able to be open about [type 1] and to interact with all these amazing people from all corners 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,” said Jonas.
Nick Jonas’ A1C Shoutout to His Audience
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 shout-out to his A1C.
“My A1C, which is a collection 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 network of more than 30,000 people globally who discuss their experiences with diabetes to help promote a message of strength, perseverance, and positivity.
“It was really special for me to get to use the Jonas Brothers’ platform as a place to speak about something that’s obviously very important to me and on World Diabetes Day, I think it’s fitting to get reflective and to explore kind 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 tune he wrote at the start of his career and diabetes experience, to those living with 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 challenges when I was 14 and to see the impact it still has to this day with the audience,” he said.
While the song has assumed a new significance for him as an adult, he said it is still relevant.
“Now I [have] this vast, supportive community that I am part of that has supported me in so many different moments. I think my outlook is possibly a lot more positive 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.”
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 daily. This was a never-ending cycle of injections, guesswork, and vigilance, according to a licensed endocrinologist.
“Insulin pumps replaced multiple daily insulin injections. With time, insulin pumps became lighter and more advanced, and eventually learned to ‘talk’ with the sensors,” the doctor noted.
“Automated systems began modifying insulin automatically, creating combined ‘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 identified.
“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.
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 gained real traction. In labs around the world, scientists are cultivating lab-grown pancreatic beta cells and experimenting with ways to protect them from immune attack,” said the specialist.
“Responsive insulin” is also being developed to become active only when glucose levels increase, offering a future where insulin works as intuitively as the body once did.
“Further progress will absolutely continue to emerge. We’re no longer just improving tools; we’re getting closer to transforming the disease itself,” the physician stated.
Nevertheless, while another medical professional concurs that further advancements will continue to appear, he points out that managing type 1 diabetes remains an intensive task — in terms of health, mentally, and psychologically.
“I sincerely hope that we’ll see more and more attention to discussing and addressing the challenges and the requirements of living with and controlling T1D. We need much more of that, too,” he told.
The Singer Employs Self-Care to Manage His Diabetes
Beyond 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 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 crucial,” he said.
While this is difficult to do at times, he said he learned to apply this soon after his diagnosis.
Recently, he has prioritized 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 exactly why, but I just find that drinking water has a lot of health benefits,” said Jonas. “I didn’t put as much focus 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, mental, and emotional health.
“It really grounds 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 inside for hours at a venue or on a movie location or something,” he said.
He relies on his therapist frequently, too.
“I think it’s really vital to do that personal development,” Jonas said.
Above all, he encourages everyone living with type 1 diabetes to engage with the diabetes community.
“There will be positive days, there will be tough days, but you can climb this mountain, and there’s some remarkable people out there whose experiences will really inspire anybody that’s going through difficult times,” said Jonas.
