Nick Jonas Shares Key Lessons Living with Type 1 Diabetes for 20 Years

• Lead singer Nick Jonas has been residing with sort 1 diabetes for 20 years.
• The Jonas Brothers band “JONAS20: Greetings from Your Hometown Tour” celebrates its twentieth anniversary alongside Nick Jonas’s 20-year journey with diabetes.
• Nick Jonas shares how each milestones have impacted his life and the way he makes use of his music to lift consciousness for sort 1 diabetes.

This 12 months, the quantity 20 holds particular significance for iconic singer Nick Jonas.

Because the Jonas Brothers rejoice their twentieth 12 months as a band, 2025 additionally marks 20 years since their lead singer’s sort 1 diabetes prognosis.

“It’s loopy the way it lined up,” Jonas informed Healthline. “It’s been a wild journey in each… within the Brothers sense, it’s been the trip of a lifetime, and we’ve been so lucky to have the ability to do that for 20 years now and to have the assist of the world’s biggest followers.”

Parallel to the band’s expertise during the last twenty years, he mentioned he has had nice and difficult moments residing with diabetes. The struggles of managing his situation have been the lows, whereas advocating and connecting with others as a spokesperson for Dexcom and thru his non-profit, Beyond Type 1, have introduced him pleasure.

“General, I’m actually grateful to have been capable of be clear about [type 1] and to attach with all these fantastic individuals from all areas of the world who’re experiencing their very own diabetes journey, and it’s a extremely huge factor to really feel such as you’re rather less alone in it,” mentioned Jonas.

To thank his followers, on World Diabetes Day (November 14), he took to the stage throughout a Jonas Brothers live performance and shocked his viewers by sharing an inspiring message of hope, accompanied by a shout-out to his A1C.

“My A1C, which is a set of numbers over a three-month interval, was the most effective it’s ever been, truly, most lately,” mentioned Jonas.

The present was attended by members of the Dexcom Warrior neighborhood — a bunch of greater than 30,000 individuals globally who share their experiences with diabetes to assist unfold a message of energy, perseverance, and optimism.

“It was actually particular for me to get to make use of the Jonas Brothers’ platform as a spot to discuss one thing that’s clearly very private to me and on World Diabetes Day, I believe it’s pure to get reflective and to faucet into sort of what life seems to be like for me as a now 33-year-old particular person residing with this illness,” he mentioned.

Jonas devoted the music “A Little Bit Longer” — a tune he wrote early in his profession and diabetes journey, to these residing with the illness.

“It’s a extremely vital time for me to get to talk on stage like that and play a music that I wrote about these experiences once I was 14 and to see the impression it nonetheless has to today with the fan base,” he mentioned.

Whereas the music has taken on a brand new that means for him as an grownup, he mentioned it’s nonetheless related.

“Now I [have] this nice, huge neighborhood that I belong to that has lifted me up in so many alternative moments. I believe my outlook is probably much more constructive now. It’s attainable to stay a giant, busy life whereas residing with this illness and outlook and perspective and all that is a crucial piece to powering by way of.”

Not way back, life with sort 1 diabetes meant greater than 5 insulin injections a day and finger sticks 10 or extra occasions each day. This was a relentless cycle of needles, guesswork, and vigilance, mentioned Victoria Finn, MD, board licensed endocrinologist with Medical Workplaces of Manhattan and Labfinder.com contributor.

“Insulin pumps changed a number of each day insulin injections. With time, insulin pumps turned lighter and smarter, and ultimately discovered to ‘discuss’ with the glucose monitors,” Finn informed Healthline.

“Algorithms started adjusting insulin routinely, creating hybrid ‘synthetic pancreas’ methods that elevate a few of the psychological burden individuals with sort 1 carry day-after-day.”

Jonas is impressed with how far know-how has improved since he was first identified.

“The truth that I can obtain actual time readings of my glucose straight to my telephone or good watch or it may be [shared with] my spouse or different relations who I’m touring away from that’s simply a tremendous factor,” he mentioned.

Along with know-how, new therapies aimed toward managing diabetes and slowing or altering the illness itself are in improvement.

“The primary immune-therapy able to delaying sort 1’s onset was authorized, and analysis into preserving and even changing the physique’s insulin-producing cells gained actual momentum. In labs all over the world, scientists are rising stem-cell–derived pancreatic beta cells and experimenting with methods to guard them from immune assault,” mentioned Finn.

“Sensible insulin” can be being engineered to activate solely when blood sugar rises, promising a future the place insulin works as intuitively because the physique as soon as did.

“Extra developments will completely proceed to develop. We’re not simply bettering instruments; we’re getting nearer to altering the illness itself,” Finn mentioned.

Nevertheless, whereas Sean Oser, MD, a household doctor and member of the American Academy of Household Physicians, agrees that additional developments will proceed to develop, he notes that managing sort 1 diabetes stays an intensive enterprise — bodily, cognitively, and emotionally.

“I sincerely hope that we’ll see an increasing number of consideration to speaking about and serving to with the burdens and the calls for of residing with and managing T1D. We want way more of that, too,” he informed Healthline.

Along with remedy and know-how, Jonas shared some methods he leans on to handle his diabetes.

First, he mentioned he discovered to take stress off himself.

“You’re by no means going to have the right day residing with this illness and even if you happen to’re tremendous on prime of your diabetes administration, there are simply issues which are just a little out of your management and having the ability to take a deep breath, reset, and know that it’s going to be OK on the opposite facet is actually vital,” he mentioned.

Whereas that is onerous to do at occasions, he mentioned he discovered to observe this early throughout his prognosis.

Just lately, he has centered on taking nutritional vitamins, caring for his pores and skin, and staying hydrated.

“It’s a easy factor, however the extra water I drink, my glucose ranges are higher. I don’t know precisely why, however I simply discover that hydrating has a number of well being advantages,” mentioned Jonas. “I didn’t put as a lot concentrate on it earlier in my life as I do now, and it’s been actually helpful.”

He additionally walks each day for half-hour or longer for his bodily, psychological, and emotional well being.

“It actually facilities me and even when it’s chilly out, getting out within the recent air is actually vital when a number of my day too, is spent indoors for hours at venue or on a movie set or one thing,” he mentioned.

He leans on his therapist repeatedly, too.

“I believe it’s actually vital to try this self-work,” Jonas mentioned.

Most of all, he encourages everybody residing with sort 1 diabetes to participate within the diabetes neighborhood.

“There will probably be good days, there will probably be robust days, however you possibly can climb this mountain, and there’s some unbelievable individuals on the market whose tales will actually encourage anyone that’s going by way of robust moments,” mentioned Jonas.