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This year, the number 20 carries particular meaning for renowned artist Nick Jonas.

As the Jonas Brothers celebrate their 20th year as a band, 2025 also marks 20 years since their lead singer'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 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.”

Parallel to the band’s experience over the last 20 years, 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 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 wonderful people from all regions of the world who are experiencing their own diabetes path, 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 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, 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 worldwide group — a network of more than 30,000 people worldwide who share their experiences with diabetes to help spread a message of resilience, 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 clearly very personal to me and on World Diabetes Day, I think it’s fitting to get reflective 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 tune he wrote early in his career and diabetes journey, 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 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 assumed a new meaning for him as an adult, he said it is still pertinent.

“Now I [have] this great, big community that I belong to that has supported me in so many different moments. I think my outlook is possibly a lot more positive now. It is possible to live a big, busy life while living with this disease and outlook and perspective and all that is an essential piece to powering through.”

Advancements 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 daily. This was a never-ending cycle of injections, estimation, and vigilance, according to a licensed endocrinologist.

“Insulin pumps replaced multiple daily insulin injections. With time, insulin pumps became less bulky and smarter, and eventually learned to ‘communicate’ with the glucose monitors,” the expert explained.

“Algorithms began modifying insulin automatically, creating combined ‘artificial pancreas’ systems that alleviate some of the mental burden 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 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 managing diabetes and slowing or altering the disease itself are in development.

“The first immune-therapy capable of delaying type 1’s start was authorized, and research into protecting or even substituting the body’s insulin-producing cells gained real momentum. In labs around the world, scientists are cultivating stem-cell–derived pancreatic beta cells and testing ways to protect them from the body's defenses,” the doctor continued.

“Responsive insulin” is also being developed to activate only when blood sugar increase, offering a future where insulin works as naturally as the body once did.

“More advancements will absolutely continue to develop. We’re no longer just enhancing devices; we’re getting nearer to changing the disease itself,” the physician stated.

However, while a family physician agrees that further advancements will continue to develop, he points out 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 attention to talking about and addressing the burdens and the demands of living with and controlling T1D. We need far more of that, too,” he commented.

The Singer Employs Personal Wellness to Manage His Diabetes

Beyond medication and technology, Jonas shared 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 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, reset, 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 apply this early during his diagnosis.

Recently, he has prioritized 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 hydrating has a lot of health benefits,” he noted. “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, 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 concert hall 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 personal development,” Jonas said.

Most of all, he encourages 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.