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This year, the number 20 carries special significance for iconic singer Nick Jonas.

While the band commemorates their 20th year as a band, 2025 simultaneously signifies 20 years since their frontman's type 1 diabetes discovery.

“It’s crazy how it lined up,” Jonas remarked. “It’s been a wild journey in both… in the Brothers sense, it’s been the adventure 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 world’s greatest fans.”

Parallel to the band’s experience over the last 20 years, he said he has had wonderful and challenging moments living with 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 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 corners of the world who are navigating their own diabetes path, and it’s a really big thing to feel like you’re a little less alone in it,” he added.

Nick Jonas’ A1C Shoutout 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 delighted his audience by sharing an uplifting message of hope, accompanied by a shout-out to his A1C.

“My A1C, which is a average of numbers over a three-month period, was the best it’s ever been, actually, most recently,” he revealed.

The show was visited by members of a global community — a collective of over 30,000 people worldwide who share their experiences with diabetes to help promote a message of strength, perseverance, 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 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 condition,” he said.

Jonas dedicated the song “A Little Bit Longer” — a melody he wrote early in his career and diabetes experience, 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 challenges when I was 14 and to see the effect it still has to this day with the audience,” 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 vast, supportive community that I am part of that has lifted me up in so many different moments. I think my outlook is possibly a lot more positive now. It is feasible to live a big, busy life while managing 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 meant more than five daily shots a day and finger sticks 10 or more times each day. This was a constant cycle of injections, guesswork, and vigilance, according to a board certified endocrinologist.

“Insulin pumps superseded multiple daily insulin injections. With time, insulin pumps became lighter and more advanced, and eventually learned to ‘communicate’ with the sensors,” the doctor noted.

“Automated systems began modifying insulin automatically, creating combined ‘automated delivery’ systems that alleviate some of the cognitive load people with type 1 carry 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 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 amazing thing,” he said.

Alongside technology, new therapies aimed at controlling the condition and slowing or altering the disease itself are in development.

“The first immunotherapy capable of delaying type 1’s onset was approved, and research into preserving or even substituting the body’s insulin-producing cells gained real momentum. In labs around the world, scientists are growing lab-grown pancreatic beta cells and experimenting with ways to protect them from the body's defenses,” said the specialist.

“Responsive insulin” is also being engineered to become active only when blood sugar increase, promising a future where insulin works as naturally as the body once did.

“More advancements will definitely continue to develop. 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 further advancements will continue to appear, he notes that managing type 1 diabetes remains an intensive undertaking — in terms of health, mentally, and emotionally.

“I sincerely hope that we’ll see more and more focus to discussing and helping with 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 Control His Diabetes

In addition to medication and technology, Jonas discussed some strategies he leans 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 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, recalibrate, and know that it’s going to be OK on the other side is really important,” he said.

While this is difficult to do at times, he said he learned to practice this soon after 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 better. 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 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 psychological health.

“It really grounds 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 concert hall or on a film set or something,” he said.

He leans on his therapist frequently, too.

“I think it’s really vital 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 climb this mountain, and there’s some remarkable people out there whose stories will really motivate anybody that’s going through tough moments,” said Jonas.